Good Day BIO: The 'silent pandemic' grows louder

It’s the start of U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week/World Antimicrobial Awareness Week—and we tell you how you can take action to stop superbugs. Cows are increasingly being harmed by extreme heat and climate-driven disease, and it’s having an economic toll. (667 words, 3 minutes, 20 seconds)

The ‘silent pandemic’ grows louder

Time is running out to address antimicrobial resistance (AMR)—in terms of public policy and the human toll. During U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week and World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, we’re raising awareness—and you can take action.

The alarming numbers: In 2019, AMR directly caused 1.27 million deaths (and indirectly as many as 5 million) worldwide—and drug-resistant infections increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

And it’s only going to get worse—with hospital-acquired infections and drug-resistant fungi on the rise, and studies finding climate change exacerbates infectious and drug-resistant disease.

For context: “The COVID pandemic, in its 30 months, has caused 6.3 million deaths worldwide,” says a new video from the International Council of Biotechnology Associations (ICBA), which includes BIO. “Imagine a ‘silent pandemic’ estimated to kill 10 million people every year from 2050.”

What patient advocates are saying: There’s an “urgent need for new and viable antibiotic treatments for dermatology patients, and we support increased research and the production of medications to help mitigate the real threat of antimicrobial resistance. As a growing number of chronic skin diseases are managed with immunosuppressant agents, further exposing patients to the risks of infection, it’s imperative that effective antibiotic treatments are available and accessible to these patients when they are required,” Coalition of Skin Diseases President Kelly Barta told us.

Congress could help—by passing the PASTEUR Act, which would resuscitate a dangerously slim pipeline of desperately needed new antimicrobials, as we reported yesterday. BIO joined 150+ health organizations in urging passage before the 117th Congress ends on Jan. 3.

Take action: Ask Congress to pass the PASTEUR Act before it’s too late.

Learn more: November 18-24 is U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week and World Antimicrobial Awareness Week. Visit the CDC and WHO websites to learn more and access toolkits to help raise awareness.

More Health Care News:

FDA: FDA approves first drug that can delay onset of type 1 diabetes
“‘Today’s approval of a first-in-class therapy adds an important new treatment option for certain at-risk patients,’ said John Sharretts, M.D., director of the Division of Diabetes, Lipid Disorders, and Obesity in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. ‘The drug’s potential to delay clinical diagnosis of type 1 diabetes may provide patients with months to years without the burdens of disease.’”

Cows can’t take the heat

It’s not all lazy days in green pastures—extreme heat and new disease threats are harming cows and, in turn, the dairy industry and global food supply. 

Extreme heat is stressing dairy cows worldwide, Time recently reported: “Cows don’t yield as much milk under the stress of scorching temperatures, and arid conditions and storms compound the problem by withering or destroying the grass and other crops they eat.”

“In the U.S. alone, some scientists estimate climate change will cost the dairy industry $2.2 billion per year by the end of the century,” explains Time. “If greenhouse gas emissions remain high, one study estimates that the dairy and meat industries will lose $39.94 billion per year to heat stress by that same date.”

And in India, which is set to overtake China as the world’s most populated country, milk output could fall as much as 25% by 2085.

A new invasive tick-borne disease is killing cattle, too: theileria, part of the malaria family, has rapidly increased in prevalence in the U.S. from as much as 2% to 20% in just two years, reports MIT Technology Review. And we know climate change increases the prevalence of ticks.

All the more evidence of the need to advance animal biotech—like gene editing cattle to better withstand heat with a “slick coat,” ticks to carry less disease, and crops to thrive in heat and drought.

President Biden’s Friday: Meeting with business and labor leaders and delivering remarks at 1:30 PM ET.

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will not run for House leadership for the next Congress; Axios looks at potential successors. Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is set to be the next Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) will be the likely Ranking Member.