Get Smart About Antibiotics Week 2015

Publication/Release Date November 2015

The President has proclaimedexternal icon Nov. 16-22 “GET SMART ABOUT ANTIBIOTICS WEEK.”  Get Smart about Antibiotic Week, an annual one-week observance starting on Monday, November 16, raises awareness of the threat of antibiotic resistance and the importance of improving antibiotic use.  This year, the observance comes nearly six months after the White House Forum on Antibiotic Stewardshipexternal icon, an assembly of more than 150 organizations that pledged to work to preserve the power of antibiotics.  In honor of Get Smart About Antibiotics Week, CDC will promote commitments made to improve antibiotic use in human medicine as well as highlight future promises of support.

Among them:

• Walmart, one of America’s largest retailers, created educational videos for checkout lines across the country giving customers background information on antibiotic resistance and what they can do to improve antibiotic use;
• The Michigan Antibiotic Resistance Reduction (MARR) Coalition, with support from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, has led the way in improving educational awareness about antibiotic stewardship by producing a public service announcement with In-Flight Media that has recently been featured on several major airlines, including Jet Blue;
• In addition, a PEW coalition of “Supermoms against Superbugs” will join the Pew Charitable Trust and CDC Director Dr. Frieden at a Capitol Hill Briefing on November 18, 2015. Pew is also partnering with CDC to establish national targets to improve the use of antibiotics to support the goals outlined in the National Action Plan on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria.

The CDC estimates that each year two million Americans get an infection with an antibiotic-resistant germ, which means the recommended antibiotic treatment may not work, and each year 23,000 of those patients die. It is time for everyone—state health departments, hospitals, healthcare workers, and parents—to preserve the power of antibiotics by understanding when they work and when they don’t.

What We Can Do:

• Patients should learn the 6 smart facts about antibiotics. Take antibiotics exactly as prescribed;
• Healthcare providers should pay attention to dose and duration and embrace antibiotic stewardship; and
• All of us can prevent infections by practicing good hand hygiene and getting vaccinated.