Orrin Hatch: “As recent events in neighboring Virginia have made all too clear, this country faces a number of troubling questions…”

“As recent events in neighboring Virginia have made all too clear, this country faces a number of troubling questions about whether we are prepared to address the growing problem of drug-resistant, bacterial infections. Indeed, while recent media reports have raised the visibility of this issue, infectious disease doctors have been sounding the alarm for years. Now, Senator Brown and I are sounding the alarm as well. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that resistant strains of infections have spread rapidly. This alarming trend continues to grow and treatment options are sorely lacking. Senator Brown and I have collaborated to develop legislation that takes a science-based approach to this problem. This legislation, the Strategies to Address Antimicrobial Resistance Act or STAAR Act S. 2313, should be seen as a measure to catalyze a greater Government focus on a frightening, growing, public health problem which should be of concern to each and every one of us in this Nation. One of the things that Senator Brown and I have found in our considerable study of this issue is that there is not adequate infrastructure developed within the Government to collect the data, to coordinate the research, and to conduct the surveillance necessary to stop drug-resistant infections in their tracks.”