New guidance from the Infectious Diseases Society of America offers timely practice advice for the clinical treatment of three of the most common drug-resistant pathogens.
Developed by a panel of six infectious diseases specialists with clinical and research expertise in the treatment of AMR bacterial infections, this first-in-a-series guidance addresses three groups of AMR Gram-negative bacteria that pose particular therapeutic challenges and have been designated as urgent or serious threats by CDC:
- Extended-spectrum β-lactamase producing Enterobacterales (ESBL-E)
- Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE)
- Difficult-to-treat resistance (DTR)-Pseudomonas aeruginosa
The AMR field is rapidly evolving, and the treatment of these infections is complex. Updates to this AMR treatment guidance document will occur regularly through an iterative review process that will incorporate new evidence Furthermore, the panel will expand recommendations to include other problematic Gram-negative pathogens in future iterations.
Experts acknowledge that the ability to address rapidly evolving topics such as AMR is limited by prolonged timelines needed to generate new or updated clinical practice guidelines. As an alternative and a complement to comprehensive clinical management guidelines, which can take several years to produce and publish, IDSA endorsed developing more narrowly focused guidance documents for the treatment of some infectious diseases. These documents will address specific clinical questions for difficult-to-manage infections that are not covered by present guidelines.
Experts say the risk posed by AMR pathogens is compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic because patients who are hospitalized after contracting the novel coronavirus can become further sickened by infections that are difficult to treat without antibiotics.
Because COVID-19 patients are often given a broad spectrum of antibiotics when they enter a hospital, it changes their microbiomes – a major concern of physicians. Infectious diseases experts say they are constantly learning more about the complications of this new disease, as well as how and when to use antibiotics to treat infections in patients with COVID-19.
