CDC’s Role in Antimicrobial Resistance

Benjamin Park, MD, image credit CDC

At this week’s World AMR Congress, Benjamin Park, MD, senior advisor for Global Programs, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), participated on a panel, titled, The Role of ID Surveillance to Reduce AMR. During the conference, Park spoke to Contagion and he provided information on the agency’s involvement in AMR, including some of its initiatives and educational resources.

Contagion: In terms of the scope of the problem, can you talk about the importance of AMR as a public health issue?
Park: Antimicrobial resistance is an urgent global public health threat. It has the potential to affect people at any stage of life, regardless of health status, and threatens our progress in health care, food production, and life expectancy. Antimicrobial resistance already affects all regions of the world. It is estimated to kill at least 1.27 million people worldwide each year, more than HIV/AIDS or malaria. Most of these deaths are occurring in low- and middle-income countries, especially sub-Saharan Africa.

Antimicrobial resistance happens when germs like bacteria or fungi develop the ability to defeat one or more of the drugs designed to kill them. Infections caused by antimicrobial-resistant germs can be difficult, even impossible, to treat. It can complicate nearly every health problem—from chronic conditions to infectious diseases. Modern medicine depends on antibiotics, including for joint replacements, organ transplants, cancer therapy, and the treatment of chronic diseases like diabetes, asthma, and rheumatoid arthritis.

When antibiotics and antifungals lose their effectiveness, we lose the ability to treat infections and control these public health threats. Everyone should have antibiotics and antifungals that work when they are needed.

Contagion: You are on a panel at the World AMR Congress discussing the role of infectious disease clinicians and AMR. Can you talk about the strategies providers can employ to prevent resistance?
Park: CDC leads US public health efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance in support of the The US National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria, 2020-2025. CDC’s AR Solutions Initiative supports domestic and global programs to track infections, respond to outbreaks, and prevent infections, while building strong local relationships between public health and healthcare facilities that facilitate the implementation of actionable prevention strategies locally. Our goal is to protect people, animals, and our shared environment by preventing the spread of existing and emerging antimicrobial-resistant threats in, and into, the United States.

Prevention must be our first defense against antimicrobial resistant germs. Healthcare providers play an essential role in preventing infections and stopping the spread of germs. They can help protect patients and communities with these actions:

Follow infection prevention and control guidelines and access training resources, including screening at-risk patients when indicated.

Ensure your patients receive recommended vaccines. Talk to them and their families about:

• Preventing infections
• Keeping scrapes and wounds clean
• Managing chronic conditions
• Seeking medical care when an infection is not getting better.
• Understanding when antibiotics and antifungals are needed.
• Educate patients on ways to prevent spread of germs and infections, for example share ways to be a safe patient while in the hospital.
• Stay informed of current outbreaks.
• Ask patients if they have recently traveled or received care in another facility. Germs can spread easily when people move.
• Alert the receiving facility when transferring patients who are colonized or infected with antimicrobial-resistant pathogens.

Contagion: What is CDC’s role in reducing AMR?
Park: CDC leads the US public health efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance with a global, One Health approach. The agency’s prevention efforts span healthcare settings, communities, the food supply, and the environment such as water and soil. Through CDC’s Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions Initiative, the agency invests in national infrastructure to detect, respond, control, and prevent antimicrobial-resistant infections. CDC supports efforts to slow the spread of resistance in all 50 state health departments, several local health departments, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands.

CDC is also supporting innovative antimicrobial resistance projects and programs in more than 50 countries throughout the world to improve antibiotic and antifungal use, track resistance, and slow the spread of untreatable infections through infection prevention and control activities. Many of these investments, including CDC’s Global AR Laboratory and Response Network, and CDC’s Global Action in Healthcare Network, are highlighted in the AR Investment Map.