provided infection control expertise to healthcare facilities , many of them nursing homes , to perform more than 14,000 outbreak consultations ; CDC ’ s AR Lab Network sequenced more than 4,700 SAR-CoV-2 genomes ; and CDC ’ s NHSN , which drives patient safety programs by tracking antimicrobial-resistant infections and antibiotic use in healthcare , provided added capabilities to support COVID-19 data collection in hospitals and nursing homes .
“ We need to emphasize and expand the implementation of the effective prevention strategies that are already in CDC ’ s toolbox to all healthcare facilities ,” said Denise Cardo , MD , director of CDC ’ s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion , in a statement . “ The 2021 launch of the Global AR Lab and Response Network and the Global Action in Healthcare Network is an example of how aggressively CDC is moving to combat antimicrobial resistance not only in the U . S ., but in nearly 50 countries across the world . We made significant progress before the pandemic , and I ’ m confident that we will make significant progress going forward .”
With prevention and preparedness as its top goal , the CDC says it remains committed to the U . S . National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria ( CARB ) and will move forward by addressing gaps in the public health system and exploring investments in U . S . healthcare infrastructure in several key areas :
• Enhance data systems and sharing : Expanding automation of electronic data under NHSN to allow healthcare facilities and systems to have information they need on antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistance . Additionally , this includes sharing established networks like CDC ’ s AR Lab Network during emergencies , using telehealth for contact tracing , and working to support uninterrupted laboratory supplies and equipment for patient care and infection control .
The CDC uses several data sources and systems to track antimicrobial resistance in the United States and abroad . The agency says that knowing where and how changes in resistance are occurring helps it identify solutions to prevent spread and slow resistance , especially in outbreak responses . Regarding public health preparedness to address antimicrobial resistance . Some of the CDC programs focused on antimicrobial resistance were re-purposed during the pandemic to offer COVID-19 testing support or surge capacity to overwhelmed labs . Since 2016 , CDC has used its Antimicrobial Resistance Laboratory Network ( AR Lab Network ) to detect known and emerging antimicrobial resistance in every state . It continued to collect isolates throughout 2020 using established processes , but some isolates remain untested due to testing backlogs .
The number of bacterial whole genome sequence ( WGS ) submissions to the AR Lab Network via PulseNet in 2020 was about 21 percent less than the average number of isolates analyzed from 2015 to 2019 by WGS or legacy methods . This also reduced the number of sequences the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System for Enteric Bacteria ( NARMS ) used to predict antimicrobial resistance related to intestinal illnesses . The CDC says more resources are needed to continue establishing a resilient public health system that can maintain capacity to respond to antimicrobial resistance while also responding to other threats . As the CDC says , “ Without an infrastructure and supply chains grounded in preparedness , critical antimicrobial resistance data will be delayed again when the next threat emerges . We must address gaps identified before the COVID-19 pandemic , including expanding the public health workforce , increasing local access to the best detection tools and technology , and expanding global lab capacities .”
• Infection Control : Continuing to offer high-quality infection prevention and control training like Project Firstline to every healthcare professional and to healthcare facilities beyond hospitals , such as nursing homes and other long-term care