Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Rampant Use Of Powerful Antibiotics In Hospitals 'Worrisome,' CDC Says
A new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found more widespread use by U.S. hospitals of powerful antibiotics designed to fight infections when less-robust antibiotics fail, a 鈥渨orrisome鈥 development as bacteria grow increasingly immune to treatment, the researchers said. Medical experts said the study, which examined prescribing between 2006 and 2012, appeared to be the first national, multiyear estimate of U.S. hospital antibiotic use. The results underscore other studies that point to the rising use of antibiotics once considered a last resort, even as calls for cautious prescribing grow more urgent. Antibiotic overuse gives evolving bacteria more opportunities to adapt and develop drug resistance. (Evans, 9/19)
Despite evidence that prolific use of antibiotics could actually be making us get sicker, hospitals are still prescribing them at high rates. A new study shows that prescription rates did not decrease between 2006 and 2012, despite growing evidence that many drugs given to patients were not actually necessary. It found that the length of time patients took the drugs didn鈥檛 change, but that use of particular drugs did go up. (Welsh, 9/19)
In 2013 the FDA issued a proposed rule requiring safety and efficacy data from manufacturers, consumers, and others if they wanted to continue marketing antibacterial products containing those ingredients, but very little information has been provided. That鈥檚 why the FDA is issuing a final rule under which OTC consumer antiseptic wash products (including liquid, foam, gel hand soaps, bar soaps and body washes) containing the majority of the antibacterial active ingredients 鈥 including triclosan and triclocarban 鈥 will no longer be able to be marketed. (Byrnes, 9/19)
In other news from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the agency wants to build awareness about the dangers of sepsis聽鈥
Between one million and three million Americans are given diagnoses of sepsis each year, and 15 percent to 30 percent of them will die, Dr. Frieden said. Sepsis most commonly affects people over 65, but children are also susceptible. ... Sepsis develops when the body mounts an overwhelming attack against an infection that can cause inflammation in the entire body. ... Sepsis appears to be rising. The rate of hospitalizations that listed sepsis as the primary illness more than doubled between 2000 and 2008, according to a 2011 C.D.C. study. (Rabin, 9/19)
