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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><a href="http://www.nbc12.com/story/24526015/drug-resistant-diseases-grow-as-threat-to-public-health">http://www.nbc12.com/story/24526015/drug-resistant-diseases-grow-as-threat-to-public-health</a></span><o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><o:p> </o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<b><font size="4" color="black" face="Georgia"><span style="font-size:14.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black;font-weight:bold">Drug-resistant diseases grow as threat to public health<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:6.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white">
<i><font size="4" color="#d62c2e" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:#D62C2E;font-style:italic">Posted: Jan 23, 2014 5:14 AM EST Updated: Feb 05, 2014 11:34 AM EST<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:6.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">By Kimberly Wright -
<a href="mailto:kwright@raycommedia.com?body=http://www.nbc12.com/story/24526015/drug-resistant-diseases-grow-as-threat-to-public-health" target="_self" title="">
<font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">email</span></font></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:15.0pt;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:6.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black"><a href="http://RAYCOMGROUP.images.worldnow.com/images/24526015_BG1.jpg" title="CDC microbiologist Tatiana Travis sets up a test to detect drug-resistant pathogens. (Source: CDC)"><font color="blue"><span style="color:blue"><o:p></o:p></span></font></a></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:15.0pt;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:6.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;background:white">
<font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><a href="http://RAYCOMGROUP.images.worldnow.com/images/24526015_BG1.jpg" title="CDC microbiologist Tatiana Travis sets up a test to detect drug-resistant pathogens. (Source: CDC)"><font color="#000099"><span style="color:#000099;text-decoration:none"><font size="4" color="blue"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:blue"><img border="0" width="180" height="101" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image003.jpg@01CF2289.4B1FE880" alt="CDC microbiologist Tatiana Travis sets up a test to detect drug-resistant pathogens. (Source: CDC)"></span></font></span></font></a></span></font><font size="4" color="black"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">CDC
microbiologist Tatiana Travis sets up a test to detect drug-resistant pathogens. (Source: CDC)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:15.0pt;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:6.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white;vertical-align:bottom">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:15.0pt;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:6.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white;vertical-align:bottom">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">Watching the Winter Olympics in Sochi may inspire some to get off the couch and begin working out or playing sports, but it's important to ease into these activities,
an expert <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:15.0pt;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:6.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white;vertical-align:bottom">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:15.0pt;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:6.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white;vertical-align:bottom">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">(RNN) - An increasing risk from drug-resistant diseases threatens to wipe out decades of medical progress, according to a study by the
<a href="http://www.cdc.gov/" target="_blank"><font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</span></font></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-right:9.0pt;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<b><font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black;font-weight:bold">MOREAdditional Links<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">The study showed that resistant microbes kill at least 23,000 people each year and complicate treatment and recovery for 2 million more.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">Health professionals characterize the threat as the largest challenge facing modern medicine.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">"We are approaching a cliff," said Michael Bell, deputy director of
<a href="http://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/threat-report-2013/" target="_blank"><font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">CDC's Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion</span></font></a> in a news release. "If we don't take steps to slow or stop drug resistance,
we will fall back to a time when simple infections killed people."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">When faced with "superbugs," physicians must resort to second- and third-line treatments, which may be more expensive or toxic for patients.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">Resistant infections are also costly to the healthcare system. The CDC estimates the care costs from these diseases are as high as $20 billion a year and lost productivity
as high as $35 billion a year.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">The rise of resistant infections also threatens patients who receive advanced therapies, such as joint replacements, organ transplants and cancer treatments. Antibiotics
are key to fighting their infections.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">"If the ability to effectively treat those infections is lost, the ability to safely offer people many of the life-saving and life-improving modern medical advances
will be lost with it," the CDC stated.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-right:9.0pt;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<b><font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black;font-weight:bold">Plan of attack<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">Bacteria naturally develop resistance to antibiotics over time through use - and misuse - of antibiotics, CDC researchers noted.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">"Every time antibiotics are used in any setting, bacteria evolve by developing resistance. This process can happen with alarming speed," said Dr. Steve Solomon, director
of CDC's Office of Antimicrobial Resistance.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">The agency said as many as 50 percent of the antibiotics prescribed for humans are not needed or misused. Much of the antibiotics used in farm animals are also unnecessary.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">Drug-resistant microbes
<a href="http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/147734/wd14E_AntibioticResistance_111380.pdf" target="_blank">
<font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">can be traced to the 1940s</span></font></a>, according to the World Health Organization. The first one, staphylococcus aureus, was discovered four years after the mass production of penicillin in 1943.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">Superbugs are a worldwide problem. For instance, a resistant tuberculosis strain is gaining ground, particularly in areas of the former Soviet Union, according to
the <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/amr_mdr_tb_map.pdf?ua=1" target="_blank">
<font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">WHO</span></font></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">The CDC has developed four plans of attack to fight these diseases: preventing the spread of resistant infections, tracking resistance patterns, improving the use
of current antibiotics and developing new antibiotics and tests.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">"Because antibiotic resistance occurs as part of a natural process in which bacteria evolve, it can be slowed but not completely stopped," the CDC stated. "Therefore,
new antibiotics always will be needed to keep up with resistant bacteria, as will new tests to track the development of resistance."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">The public can help by getting immunized, handling food safely, using antibiotics as prescribed and practicing basic hygiene such as washing hands.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">Patients should dispose of any antibiotic remnants properly, with the best option being taking unwanted medicine to a drug take-back program.
<a href="http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback/" target="_blank">
<font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">The Drug Enforcement Administration's Drug Take-Back Day is April 26.</span></font></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black"><a href="http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/BuyingUsingMedicineSafely/EnsuringSafeUseofMedicine/SafeDisposalofMedicines/ucm186187.htm" target="_blank"><font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">The
FDA also has developed advice for how to best dispose of an assortment of drugs.</span></font></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-right:9.0pt;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<b><font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black;font-weight:bold">Food supply issues<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">Animals used in food are given antibiotics to prevent and treat disease, as well as make these animals gain weight faster with less feed.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">According to
<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/meat/safe/overview.html"><font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">a PBS report</span></font></a>, "small doses of antibiotics administered daily would make most animals gain as much as 3 percent more
weight than they otherwise would."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">The drugs are added to the animals' feed and sometimes to the drinking water. But their overuse, experts say, is likely compromising human health, as drug-resistant
microbes can be transferred from animals to the humans who eat them.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">The countries of the European Union have forbidden the use of antibiotics to promote animal growth.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has released a voluntary plan, along with industry, to
<a href="http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm378100.htm" target="_blank">
<font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">phase out antibiotic use in farm animals to bolster production</span></font></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">Some question whether the FDA is doing enough to protect the food supply.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">The Natural Resources Defense Council noted that a decade-long FDA assessment classified 18 of the 30 feed additives as having a "high risk" of exposing the public
to drug-resistant bacteria through the food supply, in a <a href="http://www.nrdc.org/food/saving-antibiotics/files/antibiotic-feed-fda-documents-IB.pdf" target="_blank">
<font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">report</span></font></a> the environmental advocacy group released late last month.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">"The FDA concluded in their review that at least 26 of the reviewed feed additives do not satisfy even the safety standards set by FDA in 1973," the report stated.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">The NRDC, which based its report on data the FDA released as part of a Freedom of Information Act request, also criticized the agency for making its antibiotics reduction
voluntary.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:.1in;margin-left:6.0pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">A coalition of meat producers, however, questions the danger of antibiotics use.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.1in;margin-right:9.0pt;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:6.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white">
<font size="4" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">It characterizes the health risks of antibiotics in meat as "negligible," according to a 2012 news release from the
<a href="http://www.nationalchickencouncil.org/use-science-in-regulating-antibiotics-agriculture-coalition-says/" target="_blank">
<font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">National Chicken Council</span></font></a>. They claim that antibiotics are needed, and the restrictions of the drugs' use is more stringent that the use of antibiotics in humans.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Deborah L. DeBiasi</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><b><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy;font-weight:bold">Email: Deborah.DeBiasi@deq.virginia.gov</span></font></b><b><i><font size="2" color="red"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:red;font-weight:bold;font-style:italic"><br>
</span></font></i></b><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">WEB site address:
<a href="http://www.deq.virginia.gov/">www.deq.virginia.gov</a></span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Virginia Department of Environmental Quality</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Office of Water Permits
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Industrial Pretreatment/Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) Program</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">PPCPs, EDCs, and Microconstituents<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><a href="http://www.deq.virginia.gov/Programs/Water/PermittingCompliance/PollutionDischargeElimination/Microconstituents.aspx">http://www.deq.virginia.gov/Programs/Water/PermittingCompliance/PollutionDischargeElimination/Microconstituents.aspx</a></span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Mail: P.O. Box 1105, Richmond, VA 23218</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Location: 629 E. Main Street, Richmond, VA 23219</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">PH: 804-698-4028 FAX: 804-698-4032<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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