A Medical Alert...

A critical story as an opinion column by the Director of the Center for Disease Control(CDC) and reported by CNN went under the radar on Wednesday. In his opinion piece to CNN, CDC Director, Tom Frieden issued a stark warning as to antibiotic resistant infections. He warned: "It's a big problem, and one that's getting worse."

Dr. Frieden alerted that the mostly hospital-housed  Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae(CRE), bacteria resistant to most and in some cases all antibiotics is on the rise. He said one type of CRE was first seen in one US State, but has since spread to 44 States and was also a problem in  many other countries.

In response to this growing threat, the CDC recently published the first report on the current antibiotic resistance threat to the US.

The report finds that each year there are some two million cases of bacteria resistant to antibiotics infections that result in at least 23,000.

The report concludes that we all can help stem the spread of such tough infections through immunization and proper hygiene, washing hands etc.