by
Anup Malani and Ramanan Laxminarayan
Five Illinois residents have died of the swine flu, raising new fears that the H1N1 virus will not be easily controlled.
But there's a silent threat lurking in the background: secondary bacterial infections, many of which are caused by superbugs. These antibiotic-resistant microbes can turn a mild case of the flu deadly and they've been on the rise for years. Illinois, with the third highest number of reported swine flu cases in the nation, has much to be concerned about when it comes to superbugs.
State and national health officials have mobilized quickly to contain the H1N1 virus. But they've been slow to take aggressive action to contain health-care-associated infections, many of which are caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. These infections kill an estimated 99,000 people each year in U.S. hospitals.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has called on hospitals to reduce the number of these infections, which also drive up health-care costs by an estimated $28 to $33 billion a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HHS plans to give $50 million to the states to fight these infections.
In the worst-case scenario, a global flu pandemic breaks out and the death toll is magnified because flu patients are killed not by the flu virus but by the superbug MRSA, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and other infections that cannot easily be treated with common antibiotics.
What's the solution?
We need to put the right policies and laws in place to contain the spread of superbugs and replenish our supply of antibiotics. The federal government should track cases of these infections and give hospitals incentives to stop their spread from one facility to the next.
We must view the threat of antibiotic resistance as a shared responsibility. Superbugs have evolved in an environment awash in antibiotics. Patients demand these drugs, even when they suffer from a cold that antibiotics won't help cure. Drug companies oversell antibiotics and hospitals and other medical providers treat infections after they happen, rather than prevent them in the first place.
We need to begin to view antibiotics as a shared resource, one that can be depleted with overuse. Patients should take antibiotics only when necessary and the government should provide incentives for the development of new antibiotics to replace drugs that are becoming useless.
So far, H1N1 hasn't exploded into a pandemic made worse by superbugs. But, in the not-so-distant future, we may have few options left for treating these dangerous infections.
We must take action now to preserve our supply of powerful antibiotics.Chicago Tribune
