Perspectives and Concerns Regarding Antimicrobial Agent Shortages Among Infectious Disease Specialists

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis
• Personal Author:
  Gundlapalli, Adi V. ; Beekmann, Susan E. ; Graham, Donald R. ; Polgreen, Philip M.
• Description:
  Antimicrobial shortages have made treating certain infections more difficult. A web-based survey asking about experience with antimicrobial drug shortages was distributed in 2011 to 1328 infectious diseases physician members of the Emerging Infectious Diseases Network of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. A majority (78%) of 627 respondents reported needing to modify antimicrobial choices because of drug shortages within the past 2 years. Antimicrobials most often reported as not available or available but in short supply were trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole injection (by 65% of respondents), amikacin (by 58%), aztreonam (by 31%), and foscarnet (by 22%). Most respondents (55%) reporting a shortage indicated that the shortage adversely affected patient outcomes and that they were forced to use alternative and second line agents which were either less effective, more toxic, or more costly. Most (70%) indicated that they learned about the shortage from contact with the pharmacy after trying to prescribe a drug in short supply. More effective means of informing physicians about drug shortages is critical to lessen the impact on patient care.
• Subjects:
  Amikacin Anti-Infective Agents Article Aztreonam Communicable Diseases Delivery Of Health Care Drug Substitution Foscarnet Health Care Surveys Humans Pharmacy Service, Hospital Physicians Societies, Medical Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination

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• Source:
  Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis. 75(3):256-259
• Pubmed ID:
  23305775
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC5815827
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  U50 CCU112346/PHS HHSUnited States/ ; 5P01HK000069/HK/PHITPO CDC HHSUnited States/ ; 1 U54 A1065357/PHS HHSUnited States/ ; U54 AI065357/AI/NIAID NIH HHSUnited States/ ; P01 HK000069/HK/PHITPO CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  75
• Issue:
  3
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:0bc7398c3b832d005d9942b39557921cce7e979e4fea561ae219b536a3bad639
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/51844/cdc_51844_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 57.88 KB ]