Tufts Medical Center taking on antibiotic resistance

BOSTON — Tufts Medical Center has created a new center for research on drug-resistant 'super bugs.'

Doctors say some infections like tuberculosis and pneumonia are becoming more resistant to antibiotics.

“As the rate of antimicrobial resistance continues to grow worldwide, drug-resistant microbes are increasingly affecting clinicians’ ability to care for patients,” said Helen Boucher, MD, co-director of Tufts CIMAR, director of the Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program at Tufts Medical Center and clinical professor at Tufts University School of Medicine. “Globally, we’ve had more and more cases in which we have to tell patients that they can’t have chemotherapy for their cancer or are not eligible for a needed organ transplant or hip replacement, because we can’t control their infection. This is the biggest reason we need to act immediately and decisively.”

Doctors say drug resistance can make it harder to care for patients who need chemotherapy or organ transplants because those procedures can't be performed if a patient has an uncontrolled infection.

Scientists at the new center will research drug therapies and new methods to control antibiotic resistance.

"Fueled by microbiological, evolutionary, environmental and societal factors, antimicrobial resistance management and prevention requires a multidisciplinary response," the hospital said in a news release.

According to the University's research, approximately 23,000 deaths in the U.S. each year are attributed to antimicrobial resistance.

Cox Media Group