Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and the Cleveland VA Medical Center have teamed up open a new center dedicated to finding solutions to antibiotic resistance.
Dr. Robert Bonomo will be the director of the new Case VA CARES (CWRU-Cleveland VAMC Center for Antimicrobial Resistance and Epidemiology), which will include work ranging from basic science to drug discovery to new treatment approaches.
Increasingly, bacteria and other microorganisms are developing resistance to the antibiotics used to kill them, both imperiling health and adding to healthcare costs as doctors try different medicines, according to a news release. Studies show antibiotic resistance adds as much as $20 billion per year in excess direct healthcare costs.
Every year, at least 2 million people in the U.S. are infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria and at least 23,000 die as a result, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
—Lydia Coutre, Crain's Cleveland Business