On August 22, researchers at the National Institute of Health released a scientific paper detailing the use of advanced genetic technology to trace a deadly infection, untreatable by nearly every antibiotic, that spread through the NIH’s Clinical Center last year.Full Story
Antibiotics and Innovation Project
Antibiotics save untold numbers of human lives every day. Modern medicine depends on their ability to treat and prevent infections such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, and staph. Yet drug-resistant bacteria are spreading in the nation’s communities and too often antibiotics are taken for granted. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that tens of thousands of Americans die each year from infections, and many of those deaths are associated with bacteria that are resistant to treatment by one or more of these drugs. In the past few years, so-called “superbugs” have emerged that cause an even greater public health concern.
The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Antibiotics and Innovation Project develops and supports policies that will spur innovation of new antibiotics to fight infections today and to ensure a healthy nation in the future.