ShareCompartir
Persons using assistive technology might not be able to fully access information in this file. For assistance, please send e-mail to: [email protected]. Type 508 Accommodation and the title of the report in the subject line of e-mail.
Announcements: Get Smart About Antibiotics Week — November 12–18, 2012
Antibiotic therapy is one of the most important tools available to combat life-threatening bacterial infections. Antibiotics have been so effective that consumers mistakenly seek antibiotics for conditions that do not benefit from antibiotic treatment. Among adults who participated in a recent HealthStyles survey, 38% expressed a desire for antibiotic treatment when seeking health care for the common cold (CDC, unpublished data, 2012). Overuse of antibiotics promotes antibiotic resistance and compromises their effectiveness. Infections caused by resistant bacteria have become more common, and many bacteria have become resistant to multiple antibiotics. Resistant infections are more challenging to treat, lead to more and longer hospital stays, and increase a patient's risk for dying.
November 12–18, 2012, is Get Smart About Antibiotics Week. The observance is a means to raise awareness about the threat of antibiotic resistance and the need to decrease inappropriate antibiotic use. Patients, health-care providers, hospital administrators, and policy makers must work together to employ effective strategies for improving antibiotic use to improve health, save lives, and save money.
CDC's Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work and Get Smart for Healthcare programs are working together to educate consumers and health-care providers in outpatient and inpatient settings about appropriate use of antibiotics. Information regarding appropriate use of antibiotics and how to participate in Get Smart About Antibiotics Week is available at http://www.cdc.gov/getsmart.
Use of trade names and commercial sources is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services.
References to non-CDC sites on the Internet are
provided as a service to MMWR readers and do not constitute or imply
endorsement of these organizations or their programs by CDC or the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. CDC is not responsible for the content
of pages found at these sites. URL addresses listed in MMWR were current as of
the date of publication.
All MMWR HTML versions of articles are electronic conversions from typeset documents.
This conversion might result in character translation or format errors in the HTML version.
Users are referred to the electronic PDF version (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr)
and/or the original MMWR paper copy for printable versions of official text, figures, and tables.
An original paper copy of this issue can be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S.
Government Printing Office (GPO), Washington, DC 20402-9371;
telephone: (202) 512-1800. Contact GPO for current prices.
**Questions or messages regarding errors in formatting should be addressed to
[email protected].
