ing to a report issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report, Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States, 2013, presents the first snapshot of the burden and threats posed by antibiotic-resistant germs hav- ing the most impact on human health. To read the full report, visit
http://1.usa .gov/15AWaBy.
CDC assessed threats according to seven factors associated with a resistant infection: health impact, economic im- pact, how common the infection is, a 10- year projection of how common it could become, how easily it spreads, avail- ability of effective antibiotics, and bar- riers to prevention. Infections classified as urgent threats include carbapenem- resistant Enterobacteriaceae, drug-resis- tant gonorrhea, and Clostridium difficile, a serious diarrheal infection usually as- sociated with antibiotic use. C. difficile causes about 250,000 hospitalizations and at least 14,000 deaths every year in the United States. “Antibiotic resistance is rising for many
different pathogens that are threats to health,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, MD. “If we don’t act now, our medicine cabinet will be empty, and we won’t have the antibiotics we need to save lives.”
In addition to the toll on human life, antibiotic-resistant infections add con- siderable and avoidable costs to the al- ready overburdened U.S. health care sys- tem. Studies have estimated that, in the United States, antibiotic resistance adds $20 billion in excess direct health care costs, with additional costs to society for lost productivity as high as $35 billion a year.
The use of antibiotics is the single most important factor leading to antibi- otic resistance. Up to 50 percent of all prescribed antibiotics are unnecessary or are inappropriately prescribed. To combat this serious health threat, CDC has identified four core actions crit- ical to halting resistance:
1. Preventing infections and preventing the spread of resistance,
2. Tracking resistance patterns, 3. Improving the use of today’s antibiot- ics, and
January 2014 TEXAS MEDICINE 49
4. Developing new antibiotics and diag- nostic tests.
For more information about drug re- sistance and its impact on human health, visit
www.cdc.gov/drugresistance.
Managing childhood concussion
Nearly 60 percent of high school stu- dents in the United States participate in organized sports, and the number of younger athletes increases annually. The identification and management of con- cussion is becoming an even bigger pub- lic health issue than in years past. Thanks to a generous grant from the
Texas Medical Association Foundation, TMA offers a new on-demand webinar: Hard Knocks: An Update on Concussion and Texas Law. Presented by Shane Miller, MD, a pe- diatric sports medicine specialist at The University of Texas Southwestern Medi- cal Center, this course fully explains the signs and symptoms of a concussion, initial evaluation and management of sports-related concussion, and Texas law as it relates to concussion management and Texas physicians. Hard Knocks is accredited for 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ in ethics/pro- fessional responsibility and is available for viewing at your convenience. Regis- ter for the on-demand webinar online,
http://bit.ly/16I4BeW. n
Crystal Zuzek is an associate editor of Texas Medicine. You can reach her by telephone at (800) 880-1300, ext. 1385, or (512) 370-1385; by fax at (512) 370-1629; or by email at
crystal.zuzek@texmed.org.
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