NIAID’s Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group provide progress updates, challenges

The Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group (ARLG), an initiative launched by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), recently provided an update in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases on ARLG progress, outlining its ongoing and future efforts.

The leadership group was established through a $2 million grant fund from NIAID in June 2013. NIAID created the ARLG to examine clinical research questions regarding antibacterial resistance and how authorities might address the issue going forward.

The group was tasked with examining four key areas related to antimicrobial resistance, including infections caused by gram-negative bacteria, such as E.coli; infectious caused by gram-positive bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (staph infection); antimicrobial stewardship; and clinical diagnostics.

A key accomplishment mentioned in the ARLG update was the launch of the Consortium on Resistance Against Carbapenems in Klebsiella pneumoniae and Other Enterobacteriaceae (CRACKLE) study, which was designed to characterize various risk factors and outcomes of infections caused by carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) and to identify obstacles to enrollment for future clinical trials.

The study enrolled more than 1,000 patients with CRE infection from both North and South America.

Since the ARLG’s launch, the group has examined more than 70 proposals and initiated more than 30 clinical studies to address antimicrobial resistance.

NIAID said antimicrobial-resistant bacteria cause more than 2 million infections and approximately 23,000 deaths each year in the United States.