California state senator revives call for hospitals to report superbug infections
2014 legislation was successful in requiring hospitals to set up antibiotic stewardship programs to prevent antibiotic overuse, but no tracking.
Calling the situation a "crisis," California State Senator Jerry Hill said this week that he will introduce legislation in December to compel hospitals throughout the state to report cases of patients with "superbugs," bacterial infections which are resistant to antibiotics.
Los Angeles County recently declared that it wants to require hospitals to report cases of carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, a superbug infection so dire it can kill half its victims.
The move prompted Hill to renew his efforts to require the reporting of antibiotic-resistant infections. State law already requires local health officials to report cases of typhoid, diphtheria, listeria, salmonella, shigella and streptococcal infection in dairy workers and food, as well as dozens of other communicable and noncommunicable diseases. But to date, instances of severe antibiotic-resistant infections are not among the conditions required to be reported.
[Also: Olympus told U.S. executives no broad scope warning needed despite superbug outbreaks]
In 2014, Hill introduced SB 1311 to mandate tracking of superbug infections that are deemed "urgent, serious, or concerning threat" by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While the legislation was successful in requiring hospitals to set up antibiotic stewardship programs to prevent the overuse of antibiotics, the provision to track superbug infections was stripped out amid concerns about costs and reporting standards.
Hill said in a statement that it's "time to revisit the issue."
The CDC estimates that at least 2 million Americans are infected with antibiotic-resistant infections every year, and at least 23,000 die as a result. This, the agency said, causes at least $20 billion in direct healthcare costs, and at least $35 billion in lost productivity in the United States.
In California, the state Department of Public Health estimates that antibiotic-resistant infections are responsible for at least 3,000 deaths and 260,000 illnesses every year. It currently requires hospitals to report cases of 80 communicable diseases.
A recent study commissioned by the United Kingdom determined that by 2050, more people will die from antibiotic-resistant infections worldwide than from cancer.
Underscoring the threat to global health, all member states of the United Nations declared in September that they would fight the problem, marking only the fourth time in history that the UN convened to confront a health crisis. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called antimicrobial resistance "a fundamental, long-term threat to human health, sustainable food production and development."
Twitter: @JELagasse
