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What do you do when bugs are outwitting drugs? That's the situation the medical community is facing with antibiotics.

Largely due to antibiotic overuse, many of the drugs that used to cure infections simply don't work anymore. And many health experts say the problem is compounded by an FDA that's too slow and unwilling to approve new antibiotics.

The necessity to develop more antibiotics that are effective against drug-resistant germs is so pressing that there's a proposal to streamline the testing and approval process. 

In hospitals across the country, doctors are getting desperate as they try to save patients who end up dying due to infections that used to be curable with standard antibiotics. 


"The number of FDA approvals of new antibiotics has dropped even as multi-drug-resistant strains of bacteria have proliferated. FDA advisers at last week's meeting did recommend approval of telavancin (Vibativ) — a derivative of vanco¬mycin — for the treatment of hospital-acquired pneumonia when alternative drugs are not suitable." (Nature)


"Antibiotics were the wonder drugs of the 20th century, and their initial uses in humans and animals were indiscriminate, experts say. Farmers were impressed by the effects of penicillin and tetracycline on the robustness of cattle, chickens and pigs, and added the drugs to feed and water, with no prescriptions or sign of sickness in the animals." (New York Times)

Scientists race to stop the spread of deadly superbugs


In March, "the Center for Disease Control released new evidence showing that drug-resistant bacteria are on the rise in U.S. hospitals. Although the numbers are still quite low, many officials warn that the implications of the data may be huge. Four percent of hospitals saw at least one of these cases in the first six months of 2012, up from 1 percent of hospitals in 2002." (The Daily Circuit)

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The Obama administration hopes the change will increase options doctors can use against drug-resistant infections.

Obama administration wants to loosen antibiotic approvals

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