Antibiotic misuse

Antibiotic misuse, sometimes called antibiotic abuse or antibiotic overuse, refers to the misuse or overuse of antibiotics, with potentially serious effects on health. It is a contributing factor to the development of antibiotic resistance, including the creation of multidrug-resistant bacteria, informally called "super bugs": relatively harmless bacteria (such as Staphylococcus, Enterococcus and Acinetobacter) can develop resistance to multiple antibiotics and cause life-threatening infections. Antibiotics have been around since 1928 when penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming. In the 1980s, antibiotics that were determined medically important for treatment of animals could be approved under veterinary oversight. In 1996, the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) was established. Starting in 2010, publications regarding antimicrobial drugs in food became an annual report. Starting in 2012, there was publicly solicited input on how data is to be collected and reported for matters relating to the use of antimicrobials for food-producing animals. Resulting from this, the FDA revised its sampling structure within NARMS with the goal of obtaining more representative livestock data for the key organisms under surveillance. "NARMS partners at CDC and USDA have published over 150 peer-reviewed research articles examining the nature and magnitude of antimicrobial resistance hazards associated with antibiotic use in food-producing animals." In 2014, the FDA began working with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to explore additional mechanisms to obtain data that is representative of antibiotic use in food-producing animals. In 2015, the FDA issued the Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) final rule, under which veterinarians must authorize the use of antimicrobials within feed for the animals they serve. In addition to antibiotic regulation in food production, there have been numerous policies put in place to regulate antibiotic distribution in healthcare, specifically in hospital settings.