Antibiotic resistance kills approximately 700,000 people globally every year. One such death occurred in Nevada in September 2016, when a woman died following a complications from an injury and subsequent infection acquired in India. The woman was unsuccessfully treated with all of the 26 kinds of antibiotics available in this country. Her infection was identified as carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae which is a bacteria found in the gut that is resistant to carbapenems, an important last-line of defense used when other antibiotics fail.

The ever increasing threat of antimicrobial resistance has been receiving growing attention in recent years both nationally by the institutions such as the CDC, and internationally, with global leaders at the United Nations discussing it at a recent 2016 meeting. It is of particular concern for the health care industry because of the need to determine how to best use antimicrobial materials or other ways to avoid hospital-acquired infections.

Health Care WIthout Harm provides support for health care institutions who are looking to create a smarter environment within which to combat both HAIs and antimicrobial resistance, exploring important issues such as the use of antimicrobials in furnishings.

Join Health Care Without Harm and the New York Academy of Medicine February 7 for a panel about how the overuse and misuse of antibiotics is breeding antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains and how leaders in agriculture and healthcare are responding.

[Source: STAT]