News Notes

The Federal government's Interagency Task Force on Microbial Resistance has issued an 84-item plan to combat the growing public health problem presented by microbes' increasing ability to shrug off antibiotics. This recently released first part of the plan is aimed at domestic concerns, including the use of antibiotics and other drugs in agriculture (H. Black, "Agricultural antibiotics scrutinized," The Scientist, 14[12]:1, June 12, 2000). The Food and Drug Administration is proposing to withdraw its controversial 1996 approval of the use of the fluoroquinolone Enrofloxacin in poultry because the agency says, of the problem of antimicrobial resistance. The plan has major priorities. These include developing 1) an anti-microbial resistance surveillance plan that includes local through national activities, and procedures to monitor antimicrobial drug use in agriculture, human, and veterinary medicine, and in consumer products; 2) public health education on the proper use of antimicrobial products; 3) research on how microbes develop resistance and translation of those findings into ways to detect, prevent, and treat antimicrobial resistant infections; and 4) encouragement of the development of human and veterinary products to cope with antimicrobial resistance. Bayer Corp., which makes and sells Enrofloxacin under the name Baytril is opposing the FDA's position. According to the FDA, Bayer has submitted data to support its request for a hearing on the withdrawal proposal, and the FDA is reviewing that data. Abbott Laboratories, which makes another fluoroquinolone, Sarafloxacin, for use in poultry, voluntarily withdrew it from the market. A second part of the plan, which will deal with how federal activities can combine with international efforts, is to be released when the World Health Organization issues its own report on strategies to contain antimicrobial resistance.