# 5858
CDDEP (The Center For Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy) – a non-profit organization with offices in Washington D.C. and New Delhi, India – today unveiled their new, updated, and enhanced interactive tool for visualizing the spread of antibiotic resistance around the globe.
Dubbed the ResistanceMap, it allows the operator to interactively access more than 50 antimicrobial surveillance indicators from North America and Europe.
As with the Dengue Watch Map, The Global Wildlife Disease Map, HEWS, and HealthMap this tool provides easy access on important disease information to everyone, including the general public.
This from today’s Press release:
September 21, 2011
MEDIA CONTACT:
Kathy Fackelmann, Burness CommunicationsUnited States Falling Behind In Efforts to Control Superbug Threat
Online Web Tool ResistanceMap shows latest regional and global trends in antibiotic resistance
Washington, D.C.--The United States lags behind many Western European nations in controlling the spread of certain drug-resistant microbes or “superbugs,” according to ResistanceMap, an interactive web-based tool that tracks drug resistance in North America and Europe.
The latest iteration of ResistanceMap was launched today by Extending the Cure, a Washington, D.C.-based research project that studies the growing problem of antibiotic resistance. The maps offer a comprehensive way to visualize global antibiotic resistance trends and identify top-performing countries and U.S. regions as well as those where antibiotic resistant infections are severe. Such infections can result in long hospital stays and high treatment costs — if they can be treated at all.
The global maps show that despite significant gains in limiting the spread of hospital acquired Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), the United States still has one of the highest MRSA rates in the Northern Hemisphere—putting it far behind other developed European countries. Nearly 52 percent of reported Staph samples in the United States are resistant to treatment with methicillin, penicillin and closely related antibiotics, compared to just 1 percent in Sweden.
“With this tool, public health officials, researchers, and others can see the progression of antibiotic resistance in the United States and worldwide,” said Ramanan Laxminarayan, Ph.D., director of Extending the Cure. “By mapping the geography of resistance, we can better identify regions at risk for outbreaks,” he said. “In addition, this map allows us to look for solutions and pinpoint regions of the world where infection control practices have been particularly successful.”
In addition to the updated maps, you’ll also find background information on the different types of antibiotic resistant bacteria and analyses of recent trends.
While just about everyone has heard of MRSA, the field of antibiotic resistant pathogens grows larger every year. As this report points out:
Two of the most common disease-causing bacteria -- Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae -- are rapidly gaining resistance to common antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin, or cipro.
Some of my earlier blogs on some of the less well known pathogens include:
NDM-1: One Year Later
Netherlands: Large Nosocomial KPC Outbreak
ECDC/EMEA: Joint Report On Resistant Bacteria
Carbapenemases Rising
Future plans at the CDDEP site include the addition of maps that will depict antibiotic usage by country.
While I touch on antibiotic resistance issues from time to time, Maryn McKenna is Flublogia’s go-to person for all things antimicrobial. While her SUPERBUG Blog covers an eclectic range of subjects, its primary focus has always been on antibiotic use, misuse, and resistance.
Her book SUPERBUG: The Fatal Menace of MRSA serves as a badly needed wakeup call on the rising tide of resistant organisms (not just MRSA).
Her book, quite deservedly, won this year’s NASW Science in Society Journalism Award.
Highly recommended.
