Preserving the Lifesaving Power of Antimicrobial Agents (JAMA, Commentary, extract, edited)


[Source: JAMA, full text: <cite cite="http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/early/2011/02/21/jama.2011.279.full?etoc=">Preserving the Lifesaving Power of Antimicrobial Agents - ? JAMA</cite>. Extract, edited.]

Commentary

ONLINE FIRST

JAMA. Published online February 22, 2011. doi: 10.1001/jama.2011.279

Preserving the Lifesaving Power of Antimicrobial Agents

1. James M. Hughes, MD

Author Affiliations: Infectious Diseases Society of America, Arlington, Virginia, and Department of Medicine and Hubert Department of Global Health, School of Medicine and Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
1. Corresponding Author: James M. Hughes, MD, Emory University, 1462 Clifton Rd, Ste 446 Mailstop 1370/004/1AD, Atlanta, GA 30322 (jmhughe@emory.edu).


Among the most important medicines ever discovered, antimicrobial agents have saved millions of lives and improved the outcomes for countless patients since these drugs were introduced in the early 1930s. However, the effectiveness of these lifesaving resources is at risk. Many medical advances that physicians and patients take for granted?including cancer treatment, surgery, transplantation, and neonatal care?are endangered by increasing antibiotic resistance and a distressing decline in the antibiotic research and development pipeline.

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