White House unveils strategy against antibiotic resistance

The Obama Administration has launched a long-term plan to curb antibiotic resistance, unveiling incentives and requirements designed to boost surveillance and diagnosis of resistant microbes, speed new drug development and require that hospitals and clinics adopt antimicrobial stewardship programs.

Antimicrobial stewardship is a low-tech approach that can limit inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics through oversight measures and educational programs for staff and patients (SN: 10/4/14, p. 22). 

The White House report, called the National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria and announced March 27, also takes aim at the use of antibiotics in livestock and farming, calling for further regulation in that sector if measures currently in place don’t decrease antibiotic resistance among livestock.