University of Minnesota Creates Institute to Fight Infectious Diseases
The University of Minnesota has created a new institute dedicated to fighting infectious disease. The University of Minnesota Institute on Infectious Diseases will officially launch tomorrow, July 25, with the mission of identifying and managing infectious disease threats. “The Federal situation has led to many cutbacks, and especially in infectious disease preparedness,” said Michael Gale, the Institute’s director. “We’re highly concerned about another epidemic, or even a pandemic developing now in the United States in particular.”
Full Story: MPR News
Inappropriate Prescribing of Antibiotics a Common Problem at Urgent Care, Study Finds
Many patients are prescribed antibiotics unnecessarily at urgent care facilities, a new study found. The study supports previous research which showed urgent care centers are associated with improper prescribing of antibiotic medications. Overuse of antibiotics is an ongoing problem fueling the crisis of treatment resistant bacteria. As a result, many lifesaving antibiotics are no longer effective against dangerous infections. Treatment resistant microbes cause 3 million infections in the US each year, and more than 35,000 of these patients die.
Full Story: CIDRAP
