Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics
The Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics (APUA) is a nonprofit organization established in 1981, dedicated to promoting the responsible use of antibiotics and addressing the issue of antibiotic resistance worldwide. Founded by Dr. Stuart B. Levy, APUA engages in a variety of activities, including education, research, and public health policy advocacy focused on antibiotic use and resistance. The organization operates globally, with members in over one hundred countries and affiliated chapters in sixty countries.
APUA is involved in several significant projects, such as collecting data on antibiotic resistance patterns and analyzing antibiotic use in specific regions, like Uganda and Zambia, to improve health outcomes. The organization also monitors regulatory actions in the United States and hosts educational events to raise awareness about the importance of prudent antibiotic use. APUA emphasizes that the rising threat of antibiotic resistance poses serious risks to global health, potentially leading to increased mortality from treatable infections. By collaborating with various health organizations, APUA aims to educate both the public and healthcare professionals on the critical need to combat antibiotic resistance.
Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics
Definition
The Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics (APUA), a nonprofit organization that seeks to improve the treatment of infectious diseases worldwide, advocates for the wise use of antibiotics and for combating the causes of antibiotic resistance. APUA was founded in 1981 by Stuart B. Levy, a professor of medicine, molecular medicine, and microbiology and director of the Center for Adaptation Genetics and Drug Resistance at Tufts University in Boston. APUA promotes education, research, surveillance, and public health policy regarding antibiotic use and resistance. APUA’s work is made possible by membership contributions, private donations, government grants, and unrestricted grants from several pharmaceutical and related companies, consumer groups, and charitable foundations. APUA has members in more than one hundred countries worldwide and has affiliated chapters in sixty countries.
Research Activities
Examples of APUA projects include the Global Advisory on Antibiotic Resistance Data project, which collects international data to provide a comprehensive overview of antibiotic-resistance patterns worldwide; the International Surveillance of Reservoirs of Resistance, which aims to analyze antibiotic resistance patterns worldwide to assist in national defense against bioterrorism; and the Antibiotic Situation and Needs Assessment project based in Uganda and Zambia, which analyzes antibiotic use and resistance in these countries to decrease mortality from pneumonia and diarrheal diseases.
Public Policy and Educational Activities
APUA monitors and comments upon actions affecting antibiotic use by federal agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and by the U.S. Congress.
APUA hosts meetings, such as the EU Ban on Use of Antibiotics for Growth Promotion in Agriculture: Review of Scientific Evidence and Implications for Public Health, which was held in Paris in 2010. The APUA also provides educational materials for consumers and practitioners.
Impact
The scientific community has concluded that if the world community does not take notice of the growing threat of antibiotic-resistance posed to human health, more people will die from bacterial infections that cannot be treated. Routine medical procedures to simple scrapes in the school yard will carry a higher risk for serious illness and death as antibiotic-resistant bacteria, or superbugs, become more widespread not only in hospitals and other health care facilities but also in the community at large.
Since 1981, APUA has been focused on the critical importance of antibiotic resistance. In conjunction with other infectious disease and public health organizations, APUA continues to work to educate the public, health care workers, and policy makers.
Bibliography
Arias, Cesar A., and Barbara E. Murray. “Antibiotic-Resistant Bugs in the Twenty-first Century: A Clinical Super-Challenge.” New England Journal of Medicine 360 (2009): 439.
Clemmitt, Marcia. “Fighting Superbugs: Are Disease-Resistant Bacteria Becoming Unstoppable?” CQ Researcher 17, no. 29 (August 24, 2007): 673-696.
Groopman, Jerome. “Superbugs: The New Generation of Resistant Infections Is Almost Impossible to Treat.” The New Yorker, August 11, 2008.
Koenig, Ellen. “The Birth of the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics (APUA).” In Frontiers in Antimicrobial Resistance: A Tribute to Stuart B. Levy, edited by David G. White et al. Washington, D.C.: ASM Press, 2005.
Levy, Stuart B. The Antibiotic Paradox: How the Misuse of Antibiotics Destroys Their Curative Powers. Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus, 2001.
Rosenblatt-Farrell, Noah. “The Landscape of Antibiotic Resistance” Environmental Health Perspectives 117, no. 6 (2009): 244-250.
Science 321, no. 5887 (July 18, 2008). Special issue on antibiotic resistance.
Spellberg, Brad. Rising Plague: The Global Threat from Deadly Bacteria and Our Dwindling Arsenal to Fight Them. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 2009.
Walsh, Christopher. Antibiotics: Actions, Origins, Resistance. Washington, D.C.: ASM Press, 2003.