WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) has launched a new effort to combat the growing threat of superbugs – bacteria or fungi resistant to standard antibiotics. The U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee - Minority issued a report today on the cost of superbugs – also called antimicrobial resistance – to the overall health care system, finding that outbreaks can cost approximately $5.7 billion when accounting for medical personnel, equipment, and the space necessary to treat patients. Additionally, Senator Hassan is today introducing the bipartisan Stop Superbugs Act with Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS), which would formally authorize and further focus the efforts of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) working group in order to help facilitate clinical trials for new antibiotics to mitigate the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance. 

Read the new Joint Economic Committee - Minority report on superbugs here.

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