US Antibiotics Awareness Week

By: Alyssa

Antibiotics are a type of medication used to fight against bacterial infections and are the most important agent used for treatment and prevention of these infections. U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week (USAAW) is held annually from November 18th through November 24 by the CDC with the goal of raising awareness of appropriate antibiotic use. Antibiotics are prescribed medications that are meant to be used over a set period of time and have guidelines to help combat antibiotic resistance. Antibiotics are made of amino acids from bacteria and fungi found in the environment. There are different types of antibiotics that combat different bacterial infections, with the specific effects of each type of antibiotic differing based on various factors like how they are used (topical vs. oral), their range of effectiveness, and their chemical structure. For example, penicillin's are widely prescribed and can help treat many different infections, whereas carbapenems are less commonly prescribed. This is because penicillin's are generally weaker than carbapenems which are some of the strongest antibiotics.

Antibiotic resistance is a serious threat to human and animal health as well as to the environment and occurs when bacteria evolve to have resistant traits against current antibiotics. Bacteria evolve when they reproduce to increase their chance of survival. This is bad because it can make infections harder to treat and current antibiotics less effective. This is a global public health threat and is estimated to cause more than 1.27 million deaths world-wide per year and over 35,000 in the United States. This is a public health risk that affects everyone and will continue to cause more deaths in the coming years if there is no effort to stop it. In the U.S., private laboratories and companies are working to develop screening for antimicrobial-resistant traits in bacteria and creating standard procedures to help limit the risk for people.

Everybody can help stop the risk by properly using antibiotics. This includes finishing your prescriptions and only taking antibiotics when they are prescribed to you. Additionally, you can help prevent antibiotic resistance by keeping yourself healthy, which can include good hand washing practices to prevent germs from spreading, getting vaccinated every year for common infections for herd-immunity in your community, and educating yourself on the importance of correct antibiotic usage and spreading this message. 

Every year since 2008, U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week is held to help promote this message and is divided into themes every day of this week. Some of the themes of this year’s USAAW are “Fighting antimicrobial resistance takes all of us,” “Antimicrobial resistance in agriculture and the environment,” and “Continuing the fight against antimicrobial resistance.” The USAAW is supported by over 300 companies, and you can join the support too. During this week, you can dress in purple or put out purple lights or landmarks. You can also share this message from the CDC with your friends, family, and employers to join this movement. Go Purple for USAAW!