The Davistown Museum

(Nancy Kaufman) #1

  • economic impact

  • incidence

  • 10-year projection of incidence

  • transmissibility

  • availability of effective antibiotics

  • barriers to prevention
    The assessment was focused on domestic impact, but the threat of importing
    international antibiotic-resistant pathogens was taken into account in the 10-year
    incidence projection. Because antibiotic resistance is a rapidly evolving problem, this
    assessment will be revised at least every five years. Examples of findings that could
    result in a change in threat status are:

    • Multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR and XDR
      TB) infections are an increasing threat outside of the United States. In the United
      States, infections are uncommon because a robust prevention and control
      program is in place. If infection rates of MDR and XDR TB increase within the
      U.S., this antibiotic-resistant threat will change from serious to urgent, because it
      is transmissible through respiratory secretions, and because treatment options are
      very limited.

    • MRSA infections can be very serious and the number of infections is among the
      highest of all antibiotic-resistant threats. However, the number of serious
      infections is decreasing and there are multiple effective antibiotics for treating
      infections. If MRSA infection rates increase or MRSA strains become more
      resistant to other antibiotic agents, then MRSA may change from a serious to an
      urgent threat.

    • Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) can cause serious and sometimes
      life-threatening infections. Antibiotic resistance significantly affects the ability to
      manage these infections. A new version of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine
      (PCV13), introduced in 2010, protects against infections with the most resistant
      pneumococcus strains and rates of resistant infections are declining. The extent
      to which this trend will continue is unknown, but a significant and sustainable
      drop in resistant infection rates could result in this threat being recategorized as
      concerning.



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