NARMS: The National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System monitors
antimicrobial resistance in foodborne and other enteric bacteria, including Salmonella,
Campylobacter, Shigella, Escherichia coli O157, and Vibrio (non-V. cholerae).
NARMS is a collaboration among CDC, the U.S.Food and Drug Administration (FDA),
the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and state and local health departments.
Narrow-spectrum antibiotic: An antibiotic that is active against a limited range of
bacteria.
NHSN: CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network is the nation’s most widely used
healthcare-associated infection tracking system. NHSN provides facilities, states,
regions, and the nation with data needed to identify problem areas, measure progress of
prevention efforts, and ultimately eliminate healthcare-associated infections. In
addition, NHSN allows healthcare facilities to track blood safety errors and important
healthcare process measures such as healthcare personnel influenza vaccine status and
infection control adherence rates.
Outbreak: When a group of people develop the same illness around the same time, and
the number of people affected is higher than normal. Outbreak investigations are
conducted to identify what exposure the affected people had in common.
Pan drug-resistance (PDR): Resistance to all drugs that would be considered for
treatment.Exact definitions for PDR differ for each bacteria.
Penicillins: A class of antibiotics including amoxicillin, methicillin, piperacillin and
other drugs based on the first true antibiotic discovered in 1928 by Dr. Alexander
Fleming. Increased resistance has made many types of penicillins less useful.
Pneumonia: An inflammatory condition of the lungs affecting primarily the
microscopic air
sacs known as alveoli. It is usually caused by infection with viruses or bacteria, and
typical symptoms include a cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing.
Reservoir: A person, animal, insect, plant, or other host that is carrying a pathogen (for
example, bacteria or fungi) that causes infectious diseases. Some pathogens have
animal reservoirs (to survive, they need animal hosts).Others pathogens have human
reservoirs (to survive, they need human hosts).
Resistant bacteria: Microorganisms that have changed in ways that reduce or eliminate
the effectiveness of drugs, chemicals, or other agents to cure or prevent infections.