99,000 Americans Die of Healthcare-Aquired Infections Every Year

[magical thyme]

Published on July 27, 2013

New statistics released this week by the Alliance for Aging Research paint a grim picture of the financial and human costs of healthcare-associated infections, or HAIs:

•1.7 million Americans develop hospital-acquired infections each year, and 99,000 die of HAIs annually.
•Three-fourths of the infections start in places like nursing homes and doctors' offices.
•The economic burden to the U.S. may be as high as $45 billion per year.
•In 2012, antibiotic-resistant MRSA infections killed more Americans than emphysema, HIV/AIDS, Parkinson’s disease, and homicide combined.

http://www.healthline.com/health-news/aging-healthcare-acquired-infections-kill-nearly-a-hundred-thousand-a-year-072713

[Squinch]

1. And I think it was here where I read an article that said that pharmaceutical

companies are not even looking for new antibiotics to address the resistant infections because, as short-term-use drugs, they don't pay as much as, say, erectile dysfunction drugs which are taken regularly over long periods.

We're screwed.

[Warpy]

3. That's largely hogwash

Anybody who comes up with a sure fire way to kill MRSA is going to retire a billionaire.

[Squinch]

5. No, it's a real thing:

http://www.tufts.edu/med/apua/news/news-newsletter-vol-30-no-1-2.shtml

There are three principal causes of the antibiotic market failure. The first is scientific: the low-hanging fruit have been plucked. Drug screens for new antibiotics tend to re-discover the same lead compounds over and over again. There have been more than 100 antibacterial agents developed for use in humans in the U.S. since sulfonamides. Each new generation that has come to us has raised the bar for what is necessary to discover and develop the next generation. Thus, discovery and development of antibiotics has become scientifically more complex, more expensive, and more time consuming over time. The second cause is economic: antibiotics represent a poor return on investment relative to other classes of drugs. The third cause is regulatory: the pathways to antibiotic approval through the U.S. FDA have become confusing, generally infeasible, and questionably relevant to patients and providers over the past decade.

[Warpy]

7. You blamed economics, only

and that is seriously in error. In addition, it won't be that much of a concern since any novel way of addressing bacterial infection is likely to come out of universities operating on NIH grants, not the drug companies, themselves. Anything that survives limited trials in healthy people at the university will definitely be developed by a drug company.

Certainly the regulatory path needs to be addressed. The days of using bacteria to fight bacteria are coming to an end, so the whole paradigm needs a big shift there, something that university labs are working on. Likely there will be no one convenient answer for all bacteria.

[GeorgeGist]

9. Wrong ...

his/her CEO will retire a billionaire.

[Warpy]

13. Well, yeah, all the uni researcher is going to get will be a Nobel

While not chicken feed, it won't be billions.

[magical thyme]

4. in a way it doesn't matter.

"new" antibiotics tend to have more side effects, be much more difficult to tolerate, and offer only a short term fix. As long as antibiotics are overprescribed, used incorrectly, fed to livestock, etc. the problem will continue.

One approach being used, not with antibiotics, but de-wormers for horses, is to shelve the no longer very effective stuff for some number of years. It costs microbes (or worms) more energy to maintain their resistance mechanisms, which gives non-resistent microbes (or worms) a competitive advantage. As a result, over time the resistant microbes (or worms) are expected to lose the turf wars and resistance will be lost.

My vet has had me drop 3 of the 5 de-wormers I was rotating through. I now just use the 2 that remain very effective, one in spring and the other in the fall. With most veterinarians doing this, and most people following their vets programs, we're hopeful that the other dewormers will regain their effectiveness giving us a better arsenal over the long haul.

[Warpy]

2. Many of them were already colonized with the bugs

chief among them Clostridium difficile. Aggressive use of antibiotics treating another potentially lethal infection kills off the intestinal bugs that generally keep it in check.

MRSA is the real tragedy. If hospitals hadn't been so penny pinching and allowed staff foot coverings when they cared for MRSA patients, the bug would have been confined to the hospitals. Now it's out in the community and killing healthy young people as well as sick people in hospital.

And yes, the breeding grounds are doctor's offices where people are sitting close together in a confined space and nursing homes, where people are presumed to be healthy and are rarely tested.

[global1]

6. Another Contributing Factor To HAI's Is Failure On The Part Of Health Professionals To Practice....

good 'hand hygiene'. Many don't wash their hands between patients and spread HAI's around the healthcare environment.

Something as simple as washing hands and they don't do it. Sad!!!!!

[Warpy]

8. One thing that has helped is alcohol based antibacterial cleansers dispensed at room doors

While we didn't wash our hands when we just handed a cup of pills to a patient, we did use that as soon as it was provided and there was a drop in infections, at least short term.

Docs were the worst offenders at not washing their hands. However, they also used the antibacterial stuff and that's probably what accounted for the drop in infections passed room to room.

[GeorgeGist]

10. Nosocomial:

Nosocomial: Originating or taking place in a hospital, acquired in a hospital, especially in reference to an infection.

The term "nosocomial" comes from two Greek words: "nosus" meaning "disease" + "komeion" meaning "to take care of." Hence, "nosocomial" should apply to any disease contracted by a patient while under medical care. However, common usage of the term "nosocomial" is now synonymous with hospital-acquired. Nosocomial infections are infections that have been caught in a hospital and are potentially caused by organisms that are resistant to antibiotics. A nosocomial infection is specifically one that was not present or incubating prior to the patient's being admitted to the hospital, but occurring within 72 hours after admittance to the hospital.

Don't know why, but always one of my favorite words from Graduate School.

[MineralMan]

11. Evolution is a powerful thing.

Now, see if you can come up with a number that represents all the people whose lives were saved since 1940 by antibiotics.

There are promising new approaches to bacterial infections under study right now.

[magical thyme]

12. if you want to change the topic of the thread, you can do your own research.

seriously.

[MineralMan]

14. LOL.