Concern is growing worldwide over the increasing prevalence of drug-resistant bacteria, and their threat to public health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that antibiotic resistance causes more than two million illnesses and 23,000 deaths yearly in the United States alone.
As part of an increased effort to combat antibiotic resistance, a team led by a researcher at the Yale School of Public Health has received a CDC grant to examine how to improve protective measures against hospital-acquired infections from drug-resistant bacteria. The project has the potential to improve the health of hospital patients by advancing the prevention of antibiotic resistance and promoting medication safety.
Melinda Pettigrew, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the School of Public Health, is the co-principal investigator of the project, and will lead a team who will examine multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which colonizes the gastrointestinal tract, and is frequently transmitted in hospital intensive care units (ICUs). P. aeruginosa is the most common gram-negative pathogen causing hospital-acquired pneumonia in the United States.
Pettigrew’s team was one of 34 to receive an award as a part of the CDC’s $14 million effort to fund innovative new approaches to antibiotic resistance by targeting several areas related to the control and spread of antibiotic resistance in health care settings. It is estimated that antibiotic resistant infections result in approximately $20 billion in excess health care costs each year.
“Antibiotics are life-saving medicines, but they also can disrupt a person’s microbiome and increase the risk for drug-resistant infections. To protect people, their microbiomes, and the effectiveness of antibiotics, this project is an example of applied research that has the potential to produce innovative public health approaches to better combat antibiotic resistance,” said Dr. Clifford McDonald, Associate Director of Science for CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion.
Pettigrew’s team seeks to study a group of human patients who have been admitted to medical and surgical ICUs in order to increase understanding of relationships between hospital-associated exposures, the microbiota, and acquisition and spread of multi-drug resistant organisms such as P. aeruginosa, which is currently little understood. Using their findings, the team will work to identify microbiome disruption indices to aid in the design of improved preventive infection control measures.
The problem of antibiotic resistance is only expected to get worse.
Melinda Pettigrew
“The problem of antibiotic resistance is only expected to get worse. Projections indicate that deaths due to antibiotic resistance may reach 10 million per year globally and will surpass deaths due to cancer by 2050. Tackling this problem will require multiple approaches,” said Pettigrew. “We are really excited about our project and believe that these data will lead to a paradigm shift in our understanding of how the microbiota can be manipulated to prevent acquisition and spread of multi-drug resistant bacteria in the hospital.”
Along with Pettigrew, J. Kristie Johnson, Ph.D., of the University of Maryland School of Medicine is a co-principal investigator. Other Yale School of Public Health investigators include research scientists Janneane Gent, Ph.D., and Yong Kong, Ph.D.
Pettigrew estimated that the research project would take one year. After that Pettigrew and Johnson have plans to study the relationship between the microbiota and patient-to-patient transmission of other multi-drug resistant organisms.
The CDC’s press release on the grant awards can be viewed at www.cdc.gov/media/archives.htm