In 2013, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released “Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States”, the first report to look at the burden and threats posed by antibiotic resistance on human health. This report named antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea among the three most urgent threats of its kind in the country. One year later the President released an Executive Order and the White House developed the National Strategy to “Combat Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria” (CARB), both of which call for the prevention, detection, and control of antibiotic resistance.
In March 2015, the White House released the five-year National Action Plan for CARB, which outlines steps for implementing the National Strategy. Through federal funding for CARB in fiscal year 2016, CDC’s Division of STD Prevention (DSTDP) is supporting a number of new and continuing activities that aim to slow the development of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea and prevent its spread. Gonorrhea control in the U.S. relies on our ability to detect and treat each case of gonorrhea quickly and effectively with the right antibiotic; because of this, DSTDP is taking a multipronged, capacity-building approach to tackle the problem.
Among the activities CARB is supporting is the multisite, Gonorrhea Rapid Detection and Response, which will develop and strengthen local and state health department epidemiological, laboratory, and informatics capacity to more rapidly detect, and quickly and effectively respond to, antibiotic resistance through network analysis of transmission dynamics and novel interventions.
Wisconsin, and specifically Milwaukee, is one of nine jurisdictions nationally to be awarded funding to begin these activities in 2016. John Pfister of EpiLab Consulting has been named Epidemiology Analyst to provide support to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services for this initiative, through its existing contract with Health Care Education and Training, Inc.
