Washington - U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) said today that he is signing onto and strongly supporting new legislation introduced in the Senate to help the federal government combat antibiotic resistant staph infections, like the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) that has killed an estimated 19,000 in this country. The Community and Healthcare-Associated Infections Reductions (CHAIR) Act (S. 2278) seeks to improve the prevention, detection, and treatment of antibiotic-resistant community and healthcare-associated infections, such as MRSA.

"Drug-resistant staph infections seem to have snuck up on our government, and in doing so they have killed more people that any number of more widely-known conditions," said Menendez. "We have to make sure our government is able to not only deal with this current infection but can also sniff out similar medical issues in the future when a pattern becomes clear. This is legislation helps accomplish just that."

The CHAIR Act is sponsored by Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL), Barack Obama (D-IL) and Charles Schumer (D-NY).

The CHAIR Act would:

• Require hospitals to report infection data to CDC and promote the availability of this data to the public;
• Develop best practices guidelines for infection control plans;
• Update current surveying of these plans by CMS to incorporate these best practices;
• Commission a feasibility study for using quality improvement payments to reward hospitals for reducing hospital-acquired infection rates;
• Create a grant program through CDC for states to carry out public awareness campaigns, especially in schools;
• Expand research efforts at the NIH; and
• Create an interagency working group to coordinate federal efforts to prevent and reduce infections.

Infections acquired in healthcare settings are one of the top 10 leading causes of death in the U.S., accounting for 1.7 million infections, nearly 100,000 deaths, and $27.5 billion in additional healthcare costs each year. In 70 percent of these deaths, the bacteria are resistant to at least one commonly used antibiotic. Although most antibiotic-resistant infections occur in healthcare facilities, they also affect otherwise healthy individuals in the community.

S. 2278 is endorsed by the Consumers Union, the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, and the MRSA Survivors Network.

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