Urgent, Comprehensive Federal Action Needed To Stem Mortality and Medicare Costs Associated With Antimicrobial Resistance.

This paper is a call to action for the policies necessary to reduce the burden of antimicrobial resistance, including federal investments in antibiotic stewardship, antibiotic innovation, surveillance, research, diagnostics, infection prevention, the infectious diseases workforce, and global coordination.

Antimicrobial drug use in food-producing animals and associated human health risks: what, and how strong, is the evidence?

Background: Antimicrobial resistance is a public health threat. Because antimicrobial consumption in food-producing animals contributes to the problem, policies restricting the inappropriate or unnecessary agricultural use of antimicrobial drugs are important. However, this link between agricultural antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance has remained contested by some, with potentially disruptive effects on efforts to move towards the judicious or prudent use of these drugs.

Structures, roles, and procedures of state advisory committees on immunization.

Context: Advisory committees have the potential to play a critical role in decision making and implementation at the state level. Many states have advisory committees for their immunization programs to assist in decision making on topics such as implementing new vaccines in their states, school and childcare requirements and exemptions and addressing concerns about vaccine safety.

Objective: This article describes how immunization advisory committees work; their roles, formation, organization, and structure; membership; the issues they address; and their benefit to state immunization programs.