U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Performance Plan
2002
1.2.1 Strategies
Desired Outcome
Reduce the occurrence of antibiotic resistant bacteria:
"Resistance to antibiotics and other anti-infective agents constitutes
a major threat to public health and ought to be recognized as such more widely
than it is at the present time." --Lord Soulsby, U.K. Select Committee on
Science & Technology
Key Performance Goal
| Maintain the overall testing rate for Salmonella, which is used as an
antimicrobial resistance indicator, in the National Antimicrobial Resistance
Monitoring System (NARMS) of 7,200/year. |
Why is FDA's contribution important?
FDA, CDC, and USDA have teamed up as part of a multi-organization effort to
control the threat of antibiotic resistance. FDA oversees NARMS. This is a program
that tracks bacterial resistance to antibiotics, detects emerging problems,
and establishes a baseline to evaluate prevention control measures. This real-time
system allows public health officials to monitor the occurrence of antibiotic
resistant bacteria, which could aid in preventing outbreaks.
Consequences of Not Achieving the Goal
Antimicrobial resistance decreases treatment options available to physicians
which may compromise public health.
The misuse of antibiotics can be found everywhere and is believed to increase
antimicrobial resistance. For example, physicians choose the newest and most
powerful antibiotics as their first line of treatment when such therapies may
not be recommended. Patients often fail to complete a course of antibiotics,
and even self-medicate using leftover pills. Veterinarians use antibiotics in
food-producing animals to promote growth and such practices are suggested to
increase antibiotic resistant bacteria that reach consumers in meat and dairy
products.
How are we doing?
 |
|
Note: Each bar represents the total number of
veterinary and human samples added to NARMS each year. Veterinary samples
are collected from production animals and submitted by selected diagnostic
laboratories. Human samples are collected from state/local health departments.
FY 2000 - FY 2002 are performance targets. The numbers
for these years shown in the chart above are wrong. The goals for fiscal
years 2001 and 2002 are actually 12,000.
Data Source: FDA-CDC-USDA National Antimicrobial Resistance
Monitoring System
|
"Antibiotic resistance ... is worrying because it is accumulating and
accelerating while the world's tools for combating it decrease in power and
number."--Joshua Lederberg, Nobel Prize winner.