Federal Funding for the Study of Antimicrobial Resistance in Nosocomial Pathogens: No ESKAPE

Abstract

The discovery of potent and safe antimicrobial agents is arguably the single greatest health care advance in history. The availability of these agents rapidly reduced the morbidity and mortality associated with a host of formerly fatal diseases. In addition, the confidence that infections could be prevented or treated by antibiotics allowed major leaps forward in the treatment of noninfectious diseases, including serious heart disease, cancers, and organ failure requiring transplants. Medical care, as we now know it, could not exist without the availability of effective antibiotics The widespread use of antibiotics has been associated with what we now know to be the predictable emergence of resistance. Early confidence that infections would eventually be conquered has given way to a greater appreciation of the genetic flexibility of common human pathogens. Moreover, we have come to appreciate the role played by microorganisms in our homeostasis. Microorganisms are an intrinsic part of us, and we would do well to learn to live with them