NARMS: Good and Bad News for Antibiotic Resistance in Foodborne Germs
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced today that a new report by the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) reveals good and bad news regarding antibiotic resistance in foodborne germs. NARMS tracks fluctuations in antibiotic resistance of six types of foodborne germs found in sick humans, retail meats and livestock. Each year, antibiotic resistant infections from foodborne germs cause an estimated 440,000 illnesses in the U.S.
NARMS--a collaborative effort that consists of the CDC, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and various state and local health departments--tested more than 5,000 germs from sick persons in 2013 for antibiotic resistance, comparing the results with data from previous years.