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Antimicrobial Resistance

Our future depends on what we do today.

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About AMR

Since the introduction of penicillin in 1942, antimicrobials have transformed the treatment of infections and saved millions of lives. But organisms “resistant” to penicillin were noticed from almost the very beginning. Now, decades of misuse and outdated guidelines have driven a rise in the organisms that are resistant to these lifesaving drugs.


Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is the ability of miroorganisms (including bacteria, fungi, viruses, etc.) to nullify the effects of antimicrobial drugs, resulting in these drugs becoming ineffective.1,2 AMR can affect anyone, of any age, in any country. 1


Today, AMR is one of the world’s greatest health threats, causing over 1 million deaths each year, and that number is growing.3

The Impact of AMR

The severity has prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare AMR as one of the top 10 global public health threats facing humanity.4


            

1,270,000 deaths 1,270,000 deaths
1,270,000 deaths
Every 15 minutes Every 15 minutes
Every 15 minutes
1 in 5 people 1 in 5 people
1 in 5 people
1000's 1000's
1000's
10 Million Deaths 10 Million Deaths
10 Million Deaths
27 Million 27 Million
27 Million
<p style="text-align: center;">per year are directly attributable to AMR globally<sup>5</sup></p>

per year are directly attributable to AMR globally5

<p style="text-align: center;">someone dies from a drug-resistant infection in the U.S. alone<sup>6</sup></p>

someone dies from a drug-resistant infection in the U.S. alone6

<p style="text-align: center;">who died due to AMR in 2019 were children under the age of 5.<sup>5</sup></p>

who died due to AMR in 2019 were children under the age of 5.5

<p><b>Common infections are know killing hundreds of thousands of people</b> every year because bacteria have become resistant to treatment. This includes historically treatable illnesses,&nbsp; such as pneumonia, healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and now, foodborne ailments.<sup>5</sup></p>

Common infections are know killing hundreds of thousands of people every year because bacteria have become resistant to treatment. This includes historically treatable illnesses,  such as pneumonia, healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and now, foodborne ailments.5

<p><b>10 million deaths</b> and<b> more than $1 trillion</b> in lost global production projected by 2050 as a result of AMR. <sup>7-9</sup></p>

10 million deaths and more than $1 trillion in lost global production projected by 2050 as a result of AMR. 7-9

<p>27,000,000 people in  the U.S. receive unnecessary antibiotics for respiratory infections annually. <sup>10</sup></p>

27,000,000 people in  the U.S. receive unnecessary antibiotics for respiratory infections annually. 10

As the problem continues, common medical procedures will become increasingly life-threatening. Left unabated, the problem will grow exponentially, literally threatening every person on earth.

 

How does AMR happen?

AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines designed to kill them. 

 As a result of drug resistance, infections become harder to treat, increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death.

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1. High number of bacteria

Whenever there is a high number of bacteria, a small number of them are resistant to antibiotics.

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2. Antibiotics kill bacteria

When taken, antibiotics kill bacteria causing the illness but they also kill the good bacteria that protect the body from infection.

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3. Resistant bacteria grow and multiply

The resistant bacteria can now grow and multiply without competition.

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4. Transfer of resistance

Some bacteria can transfer their resistance to antibiotics to other bacteria, which can cause more problems.

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Winning the Battle
Our Future Depends on It

If left unabated, the effects of AMR could be worse than COVID-19. 6,11 Future projections suggest that AMR could result in millions of deaths and trillions of dollars in lost global production. 7

As the problem continues, common medical procedures will become increasingly life-threatening. The problem can grow exponentially, literally threatening every person on earth.

The Global Fight Against Antimicrobial Resistance
From Broadview Pictures @2022. Silent Pandemic was produced by Broadview Pictures in co-production with ZDF and in cooperation with ARTE. All rights reserved. Used under agreement.

Our Role in Combatting AMR


Our global public health efforts seek to expand access and drive capacity-building through partnerships with leading organizations and governments.


We engage in advocacy with governments, funders and health agencies to advance innovations to address the world’s leading public health needs, including drug-resistant infections.


We possess important capabilities that are instrumental in containing AMR. We offer a wide range of medical products, platforms and offerings that can be used to prevent the spread of infection in healthcare facilities, such as diagnostic systems to screen, test and diagnose infection, including drug-resistant strains, as well as state-of-the-art surveillance and reporting capabilities to monitor, track and predict AMR outbreaks.


Enabled by our innovative programs and technologies, BD teams across the globe are directly engaging AMR leaders in government, academia and professional societies to strengthen AMR awareness, health systems, capacities and infection prevention and diagnostic practices.

Strategic Areas of Focus

BD is leveraging its extensive global capabilities to meaningfully engage around 5 key strategies to reduce the burden of drug-resistant infections.

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Infection prevention and control practices and guidelines

Avoiding infections is one of the best ways to fight AMR.

 

Learn more

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Antibiotic stewardship

Improving use of diagnostic tests to optimize use of antibiotics.

Learn more

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Surveillance

Identifying emerging threats and developing an effective response plan is one of the key leverage points in battling AMR.

Learn more

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Innovation

Investing in innovative solutions to address the issues of AMR.

Learn more

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Awareness

Raising awareness is crucial because AMR threatens everyone!

Learn more

We must take action against drug-resistant infections, TOGETHER!

New and Newsworthy

COVID-19 impact on AMR

COVID-19 impact on AMR

Learn more
AMR Control Supplement

The Challenge for the Cancer Community

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Global burden of bacterial AMR in 2019

a systematic analysis

 

Learn more

References

1. World Health Organization. Antimicrobial resistance fact sheet. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs194/en/. Accessed November 28, 2017.

2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About antimicrobial resistance. https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/about.html. Accessed May 12, 2017.

3. Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. The latest estimates of global anti-microbial resistance showurgent policy action is needed to save lives. https://www.healthdata.org/news-release/latest-estimatesglobal-anti-microbial-resistance-show-urgentpolicyactionneededsave#:~:text=An%20estimated%204.95
%20million%20people,young%20children%20are%20particularly%20affected. Accessed February 8, 2022.

4. World Health Organization. Ten threats to global health in 2019. https://www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/ten-threats-toglobal-health-in-2019. Accessed February 8, 2022.

5. Antimicrobial Resistance Collaborators. Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 2019: a systematic analysis. Lancet. 2022;399(10325):629-655.

6. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More people in the United States dying from antibioticresistant infections than previously estimated. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2019/p1113-antibioticresistant. html; Accessed June 23, 2022.

7. O’Neill J. Antimicrobial resistance: tackling a crisis for the health and wealth of nations. https://amrreview.

org/sites/default/files/AMR%20Review%20Paper%20%20Tackling%20a%20crisis%20


for%20the%20health%20and%20wealth%20of%20nations_1.pdf. Accessed February 8, 2022.

8. Smith R, Coast J. The true cost of antimicrobial resistance. BMJ. 2013;346:f1493.

9. World Bank. By 2050, drug-resistant infections could cause global economic damage on par with 2008

financial crisis, http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2016/09/18. Accessed October 12, 2017.

 

10. Shapiro DJ, Hicks LA, Pavia AT, Hersh AL. Antibiotic prescribing for adults in ambulatory care in the USA,

2007–09. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2013;69(1):234-240.

11. Ukuhor H. The interrelationships between antimicrobial resistance, COVID-19, past, and future

pandemics. J Infect Public Health. 2021;14(1):53-60.

Multifaceted Prevention is Vital

Infection prevention and control initiatives work to prevent the spread of infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria, reduce the need for antibiotics and help curb the emergence of antibiotic resistance.
Infection control practices, from simple handwashing to global vaccination and the use of effective infection prevention measures, are key tools to combat AMR. Preventing drug-resistant infections reduces the use of antibiotics and improves patient outcomes.

SOURCES OF INFECTION

Healthcare settings are high-risk environments for the spread of organisms that cause infections. 7% to 10% of hospitalized patients and 33% of patients in intensive care units contract at least one healthcare-associated infection.1,2

Only 40% of healthcare workers adhere to recommended handwashing practices, although self-reported rates are nearly 100%.3

Medical devices and surgical procedures are potential sources of infection.17% of central-line, 14% of surgical-site and 10% of catheter-associated infections are caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria.4

Patients can be a source of transmission of infectious bacteria to caregivers, to other patients and often, to themselves. Up to 30% of individuals carry Staphylococcus aureus, a potentially harmful bacterium.5

BD Commitment

Partnering on prevention

At BD, we are leveraging our expertise in diagnostics, vascular access, surgical preparation and critical care to support hospitals’ infection prevention and control programs. BD is committed to helping clinicians improve patient outcomes through the standardization of care and adherence to best practices.

SHEA: In support of the infection prevention efforts of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), BD provides an educational grant for the “Prevention Course in HAI Knowledge and Control”—a free educational resource to keep frontline providers, their families, and patients safe.


International Collaboration: BD has worked with national governments in multiple countries, including the United States, China, Kenya, Cambodia, and India, via public-private partnerships to improve hospitals’ capabilities with infection prevention and control.


Educational Publication Partnerships: BD leverages expertise from internal clinical pharmacists, infectious disease physicians and industry-leading data scientists to produce more than 500 unique analytic tool sets, resulting in publications informing infection prevention guidelines.


Working together to improve processes: BD partners with clinicians in addressing vascular access-related complications by identifying gaps in their current vascular access process.

Supporting Infection Control Guidelines

BD Product Solutions

Systematic infection prevention and control procedures reduce the frequency and extent of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and the spread of antimicrobial-resistant organisms. Comprehensive product and service offerings from BD help clinicians improve patient outcomes through the standardization of care and adherence to best practices.

We must take action against drug-resistant infections, TOGETHER!

References

  1. World Health Organization. Antimicrobial resistance fact sheet. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs194/en/. Accessed November 28, 2017.
  2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About antimicrobial resistance. https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/about.html. Accessed May 12, 2017. 
  3. Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. The latest estimates of global anti-microbial resistance show urgent policy action is needed to save lives. https://www.healthdata.org/news-release/latest-estimates-global-anti-microbial-resistance-show-urgent-policyactionneededsave#:~:text=An%20estimated%204.95%20million%20people,young%20children%20are%20particularly%20affected. Accessed February 8, 2022.
  4. World Health Organization. Ten threats to global health in 2019. https://www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/ten-threats-toglobal-health-in-2019. Accessed February 8, 2022.
  5. Antimicrobial Resistance Collaborators. Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 2019: a systematic analysis. Lancet.2022;399(10325):629-655.
  6. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More people in the United States dying from antibiotic-resistant infections than previously estimated. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2019/p1113-antibiotic-resistant.html; Accessed June 23, 2022.
  7. O’Neill J. Antimicrobial resistance: tackling a crisis for the health and wealth of nations. https://amr-review.org/sites/default/files/AMR%20Review%20Paper%20%20Tackling%20a%20crisis%20for%20the%20health%20and%20wealth%20of%20nations_1.pdf. Accessed February 8, 2022.
  8. Smith R, Coast J. The true cost of antimicrobial resistance. BMJ. 2013;346:f1493. 
  9. World Bank. By 2050, drug-resistant infections could cause global economic damage on par with 2008 financial crisis, http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2016/09/18. Accessed October 12, 2017.
  10. Shapiro DJ, Hicks LA, Pavia AT, Hersh AL. Antibiotic prescribing for adults in ambulatory care in the USA, 2007–09. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2013;69(1):234-240.
  11. Ukuhor H. The interrelationships between antimicrobial resistance, COVID-19, past, and future pandemics. J Infect Public Health. 2021;14(1):53-60.

Antibiotic Stewardship and the Importance of Diagnostics

What is Stewardship?

Essentially, antibiotic stewardship means being smarter—more discriminating and more appropriate—about how we (as a society) use them. 

Antimicrobial stewardship programs in healthcare settings are designed to optimize antibiotic therapies, with the intention of slowing the emergence of drug-resistance.

The Importance of Diagnostics 

Accurate and rapid diagnostic testing is a crucial element of stewardship. Diagnostic testing can identify the infection-causing organism, determine whether it is resistant and guide the appropriate therapeutic choice.

BD Commitment: Partnering on Stewardship

BD is committed to three key areas in support of global antibiotic stewardship: 

  1. Delivering updated and new diagnostic tools 
  2. Deploying software to move data from lab to the patient 
  3. Partnering in the development of training tools to foster stewardship

 

BD partnerships

Globally: BD is working with The Fleming Fund to strengthen laboratories in 19 developing and emerging countries. 

BD partnered with the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), a Geneva-based non-governmental organization, to develop the new AMR scorecard for lab quality improvement. A successful rollout of equipment, reagents and training has improved lab capabilities across these countries.


 UK: BD partnered with a UK pharmacy chain to demonstrate the effective use of point-of-care tests that diagnose patients with viral infections, resulting in the reduction of the number of unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions. 


India: BD partnered with the Ministry of Health in Kerala to increase access to automated blood culture and identification and antibiotic susceptibility technologies at a secondary public sector hospital, to reduce mortality rates due to sepsis. 

Expanding Diagnostic Testing: BD Product Solutions

Diagnostic tests classify infections and guide therapies, enabling clinicians to implement effective antimicrobial interventions

BD is Committed to Partnering on Surveillance

Comprehensive Surveillance is critical for public health to identify and respond to emerging threats around the world. 

Why is it important? 

Surveillance is needed to understand the scope and risk of drug-resistant infections and to catch emerging threats when and where they arise—and develop an appropriate and effective response.

Providing early warnings of outbreaks is a vital part of mitigating AMR. Without surveillance, we will not be able to bring attention and needed resources to address AMR.

BD is Committed to Partnering on Surveillance

BD has contributed extensive data and analytics to evaluate and report the burden of AMR to a range of global organizations, including the:

  • U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
  • The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IMHE)
  • The Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy (CDDEP) 

The BD Health and Economic Outcomes Research (HEOR) team developed an AMR Burden of Disease Tool that illustrates current and anticipated future clinical and economic impacts of AMR across various system levels. BD is helping health systems and facilities in Canada, Southeast Asia, China and elsewhere use this tool. 


The BD HealthSight™ platform transforms over 2.3 billion patient messages per year into meaningful analytics and insights for clients, BD business units and the scientific community/industry. We collaborate with other life science companies to publish these critical data sets. 

Collaborating with Data is the Key

Surveillance includes Reporting, Analysis and Collaboration

BD partners with organizations around the work to strengthen laboratory diagnostic and reporting systems as well as to train healthcare workers on best practices to improve stewardship and surveillance.

AMR is a global problem and requires a global solution. 

A Critical Tool in the Battle Against AMR

 A connected medication management system comprising technologies, analytics and surveillance tools can help ensure that medications are available and used appropriately.

Awareness is Critical

Raising awareness is crucial because AMR threatens everyone! 

Antimicrobial resistance is increasing rapidly worldwide.

Without action, common medical procedures - including surgery, childbirth and chemotherapy - will become increasingly life-threatening.

AMR threatens everyone on Earth.

So all of us need to be resistance fighters…..right here, right now.

About the Antimicrobial Resistance Fighter Coalition (ARFC)

As founding sponsor of the Antimicrobial Resistance Fighter Coalition (ARFC), BD supports education, training and partnerships across the globe to raise awareness of AMR and to change behaviors that will help maintain the effectiveness of antibiotics for our future generations. 

Who Is ARFC?

The Antimicrobial Resistance Fighter Coalition is a bold collective of like-minded organizations, leaders and individuals united in their commitment to address the threat and burden of antimicrobial resistance.

Join Us

BD is Committed to Partnering on Training and Education

Training is equally crucial to strengthen microbiology labs globally. 

BD and The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, together with a global advisory group of experts, partnered to create the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) that educate participants about how diagnostics can be leveraged to reduce AMR risks. Lessons learned from COVID-19 are included in the training. 

Learn More

Sharing Knowledge and Experience

Halting and reversing this massive challenge will require the combined resources and efforts of both public and private sectors. AMR has no single solution, and the challenges cannot be solved without multiple players working collectively on a common AMR agenda. BD will continue to collaborate with global leaders around the world to address this urgent global health concern. 

Integrated Vascular Access Management

Reduce bacteria that can cause infections with appropriate preparation of the skin. Reduce vascular access complications with an integrated approach to the insertion and maintenance of the catheter.

  • Clear single-use skin antiseptic applicators
  • IV catheter solutions
  • Prefilled IV flush syringes
  • Antimicrobial IV dressings
  • Needleless IV access connectors

Standardized surgical preparation procedures

Reduce bacteria during presurgical skin preparation with products and services that enable a systematic, consistent and targeted surgical preparation approach.

  • Tinted single-use skin antiseptic applicators
  • Presurgical hair removal clippers
  • Preoperative scrub brushes

Critical care solutions

Products and kits designed to reduce variability or improve compliance in critical care practice.

  • Foley catheters and insertion trays
  • External and non-indwelling catheters
  • Catheter stabilization products
  • Product7.jpg

    The PureWick™ Female External Catheter allows for simple, non-invasive urine output management in female patients.

  • Product8.jpg

    The Surestep™ Foley Tray was designed to help provide a consistent step-by step process to guide the clinician through the Foley insertion process by displaying the recommended steps directly on the tray.

  • Product9.jpg

    Our Spirit Male External Catheters offer a broad line with a diverse range of coverage with style and size selection for optimal fit, and personal preference.

  • UD-SureStep--partial-tray-280x249.jpg

    The Surestep™ Foley Tray was designed to help provide a consistent step-by step process to guide the clinician through the Foley insertion process by displaying the recommended steps directly on the tray. 

  • UD - Foley Stabilzation Fol0100.jpg

    BD offers stabilization devices for latex and silicone catheters. They are available in adult and pediatric sizes.

Sample acquisition

Improve sample quality and protect specimen integrity by properly acquiring and managing samples for testing.

  • Urine specimen management
  • Blood draw

Accurate patient screening

Reduce the risk of HAIs by efficiently identifying patients colonized with resistant organisms.

  • Automated molecular diagnostic systems
  • Prepared plated media for isolation of selected organisms
  • Automated preparation and screening for plated media

Rapid detection and identification of infectious agents

Guide therapy and prevent unnecessary antimicrobial use by identifying the cause of infection.

  • Point-of-care diagnostic testing
  • Identification systems
  • Automated culture systems
  • Laboratory automation with microbial imaging applications
  • veritor-plus-system_RC_DS_DT_1116-0001_card.jpg

    The BD Veritor™ Plus System is a handheld device that enables testing for Flu A+B, Group A Strep, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) assays.

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    BD BBL™ Sensi-Disc™ antimycobacterial discs contain antimycobacterial agents for qualitative susceptibility studies of mycobacteria and related organisms

  • FX_Stack_0695b-wOpenDrawer_Original_49472_feature

    The BD BACTEC™ FX blood culture system builds on the proven history of previous BD BACTEC™ instrumentation, with advanced fluorescence detection technology, exceptional media performance and instrument reliability

Precise susceptibility testing

Optimize the patient treatment plan by determining the specific antimicrobials that inhibit or kill particular bacteria.

  • Automated susceptibility testing systems
  • Antimicrobial susceptibility test discs
  • Automated liquid culture and drug susceptibility testing for tuberculosis

Enhanced infection surveillance and analytics

Empower health systems with surveillance and analytics support so they can identify and report infections, translate data into a tool for HAI management, and detect possible outbreaks and clusters of resistant organisms and other important pathogens.

  • Near-real time infection identification and facilitation of intervention
  • Emerging trends of isolate occurrence
  • Risk-adjusted infection prevention and performance benchmarking
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    Formerly MedMined™ Surveillance Advisor, this comprehensive solution combines ongoing clinical surveillance of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) with clinical support and educational tools

Streamlined antimicrobial use and resistance reporting

Help streamline hospital-wide antimicrobial stewardship and infection surveillance efforts through on-demand, standardized evaluation and reporting of antimicrobial use and resistance. BD MedMined™ Medication Stewardship Advisor helps expand and foster an integrated antimicrobial stewardship program for pharmacists, physicians, microbiologists and infection preventionists.

  • Hospital-specific, regional and national comparative antimicrobial use and resistance reports
  • Data analytics for AMR decision-making, including antibiograms and epidemiological trend analysis
  • Trending, tracking and comparison of C. difficile rates

Enterprise inventory optimization

Support patient care by providing facilities with visibility to their medications through a central view of inventory, orders and usage across the health system.

  • Enterprise inventory management platform integrates with automated dispensing cabinets to help minimize the risk of stockouts and helps to ensure medications are available when needed
  • Pharmacy operations dashboard combines critical data from BD technologies, including pharmacy surveillance notifications, into a single view to proactively respond to medication needs
  • Product image of Pyxis MedStation ES system

    An automated medication dispensing system supporting centralized medication management.

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    Enterprise inventory management software which allows hospitals and health systems to electronically manage pharmacy inventory and automate key workflows to drive workflow efficiency and provide visibility to perpetual inventory.

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    An integrated browser-based pharmacy operations dashboard that combines critical data from BD Pyxis™ dispensing and BD Alaris™ infusion systems into a single view.