There are some signs of progress in drug-resistant infections in pediatrics, suggesting that antibiotic stewardship efforts may be having an effect and fewer broad-spectrum agents are being used on this important patient group, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.

In patients with gram-negative rod bacteremia, patients receiving seven days of antibiotics had similar 90-day mortality, readmission rates, and rates of recurrent bacteremia as patients receiving 14 days of antibiotic.

A combination of public health, antibiotic stewardship, and infection control efforts over the last six years have managed to beat back the devil of multidrug-resistant bacteria. Yet all still hangs in the balance.

Though there has been tremendous progress in antibiotic stewardship efforts over the last decade, a broad and demanding array of research and action is needed if the rise of drug-resistant bacterial infections is to be stemmed, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America reports in a new white paper.

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