Hospira Reinforces Importance of Clinical Surveillance Technology in Line With World Health Day Focus on Antimicrobial Resistance

LAKE FOREST, Ill., April 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — As part
of World
Health Day 2011, the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling
on policy makers, providers, the public and the healthcare industry
to take action to combat the serious health threat of antimicrobial
resistance (AMR).  Aligned with these efforts, Hospira (NYSE:
HSP) is focusing on the growing importance of clinical
surveillance systems to help reduce AMR by helping healthcare
providers optimize antibiotic therapy and provide the “right drug
for the right bug.”

Antimicrobial agents, used to treat infections, are one of the
most important advances in medicine, alleviating suffering from
infectious diseases and saving countless lives over the past 70
years.(1) According to WHO, the world is at risk of losing this
critical arsenal of medicines due to the overuse and misuse of
antimicrobials, as well as poor infection-control practices,
resulting in the spread of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).
These challenges increase antimicrobial use and resistance, and
have been linked to patient morbidity and mortality. According to
WHO reports, at any given time, approximately 1.7 million people
have an HAI, an estimated 60 percent of which are caused by a
drug-resistant bacteria.(2)(3)

In the United States, antimicrobial drug resistance is estimated
to deliver an incremental cost of $16.6 billion to $26 billion
annually.(4) As a result, hospitals are taking steps to address the
problem, utilizing clinical surveillance systems to help them
identify and prevent HAIs and combat AMR through real-time decision
support focused on improving antibiotic use.

Clinical surveillance systems play a key role in the
antimicrobial stewardship program at Henry Ford Hospital in
Detroit, part

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