"We are in the midst of an emerging crisis of antibiotic resistance for microbial pathogens in the United States and throughout the world." (IDSA 2007)

"The potential crisis at hand is the result of a marked decrease in industry R&D, government inaction, and the increasing prevalence of resistant bacteria. Infectious diseases physicians are alarmed by the prospect that effective antibiotics may not be available to treat seriously ill patients in the near future." (Bad Bugs, No Drugs IDSA 2004)

Thursday, November 5th 2010

U.S. and European Experts Applaud Creation of New Transatlantic Task Force on Global Antibiotic Resistance Threat:
Experts on both sides of the Atlantic applaud President Barack Obama and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, representing the European Union (EU) Presidency, for establishing a transatlantic task force to address antibiotic resistance, an urgent and growing problem that threatens patient safety and public health worldwide.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified antimicrobial resistance as one of the three greatest threats to human health.
"Antimicrobial resistance and the lack of new antimicrobial agents to effectively treat resistant infections are problems that no country can deal with alone - they threaten the very foundation of medical care", said Richard Whitley, MD, FIDSA, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). "Without effective antimicrobial drugs, modern medical treatments such as operations, transplants, intensive care, cancer treatment and care of premature babies will become very risky if not impossible".
"We are thrilled to see the United States and European Union take this important first step to control the spread of serious and life-threatening antimicrobial resistant organisms and to advance the development of much-needed antimicrobial drugs", said Javier Garau, MD, president of European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID). Drug-resistant infections kill tens of thousands of people in the United States each year. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) alone infects more than 94,000 people and kills nearly 19,000 Americans every year, more deaths than caused by emphysema, HIV/AIDS, Parkinson's disease, and homicide. (Extracts from a press release by the Infectious Disease Society of America, Thursday, November 5th 2010)