3183.0: Monday, October 22, 2001: 4:30 PM-6:00 PM

Oral Session

Antibiotic Resistance I: Global Threat and Local Response

Antibiotic resistance poses one of the greatest challenges facing public health officials today. Most bacterial species have acquired antibiotic resistance, and many have resistance to multiple drugs. This complex problem is related to the degree of exposure to antibiotics, exacerbated by inappropriate use in both developed and developing regions. In the U.S., penicillin resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae is as high as 40%. In Southeast Asia, 98% of gonococcal isolates are multidrug-resistant. In industrialized countries, over half of hospital-acquired infections are caused by drug-resistant microbes. These resistant pathogens, including vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), are no longer confined to hospitals, but also are seen in community settings. Increasing resistance of bacteria to many antimicrobials results in significant increases in health care costs. For examples, the emergence of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis has necessitated the use of drugs that cost one hundred times more than traditional therapy. This panel will describe the national and global crisis of antibiotic resistance, review methods of dissemination and proliferation of resistant microorganisms, and provide an overview of a statewide effort to address antimicrobial resistance.
See individual abstracts for presenting author's disclosure statement.
Learning Objectives: Viewers of this session will: Understand the global threat of antibiotic resistance Describe approaches for reducing inappropriate antibiotic prescribing and use
Moderator(s):Stephen A Lerner, MD
Organizer(s):Nadia Shalauta Juzych, ScD, MS
4:30 PMEcological Consequences of Antibiotic Use
John McGowan, Stuart B. Levy, MD
4:50 PMInterventions to promote appropriate antibiotic use in the community in the United tates
Richard E. Besser, MD
5:10 PMMARR: A Statewide Approach for Reducing Antibiotic Resistance
Nadia Shalauta Juzych, ScD, MS, Stephen A Lerner, MD, Betsy Foxman, MSPH, PhD
Sponsor:Environment
Cosponsors:Chiropractic Health Care; Epidemiology; Socialist Caucus
CE Credits:CME, Chiropractic, Health Education (CHES), Nursing, Pharmacy, Social Work

The 129th Annual Meeting of APHA