WASHINGTON (AP) --
The White House on Friday announced a five-year plan to fight the threat
posed by antibiotic-resistant bacteria amid fears that once-treatable germs
could become deadly.
Repeated exposure
to antibiotics can lead germs to become resistant to the drugs, so that they
are no longer effective. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
estimates that drug-resistant bacteria cause 23,000 deaths and 2 million
illnesses each year in the United States.
The World Health
Organization said last year that bacteria resistant to antibiotics have
spread to every part of the world and might lead to a future where minor
infections like strep throat could kill. Antibiotic resistance also
threatens animal health, agriculture, and the economy.
In an interview
with WebMD, President Barack Obama said over-prescribing antibiotics is a
serious problem.
“Studies have
consistently shown that a lot of America’s antibiotic use is unnecessary,”
he said. He said he hopes his plan will create a system to show real-time
rates of antibiotic use and where cases of drug resistance are being
reported. “If we can see where these drugs are being over-prescribed, we can
target our interventions where they’re needed most.”
The White House’s
overall goal is to prevent and contain outbreaks of infections at home and
abroad. It’s aiming to maintain the ability of current antibiotics to fight
illnesses and develop new treatments.
The plan is the
result of an order Obama signed in September forming a task force on the
issue. Obama also has asked Congress to nearly double its funding to fight
antibiotic resistance to $1.2 billion.
Critics said the
White House needs to go further, particularly in terms of the antibiotics
used in animals processed for meat. The Food and Drug Administration has
already successfully encouraged many drug companies to phase out the use of
antibiotics used for animal growth promotion. But advocacy groups have
called on the agency to limit other uses of animal antibiotics as well, such
as for disease prevention when holding animals in crowded conditions.
“Once again, the
administration has fallen woefully short of taking meaningful action to curb
the overuse of antibiotics in healthy food animals,” said New York
Democratic Rep. Louise Slaughter, a microbiologist who has sponsored
legislation to stop routine antibiotic use in animal farming.
“With 80 percent of
the antibiotics produced in the United States being used in agriculture
mostly for prevention, any meaningful solution to the looming antibiotic
resistance crisis must begin with limits on the farm -- and trusting a
voluntary policy that lets industry police itself will not bring about real
change,” she said.