Matheson Reintroduces Bill to Combat Drug-Resistant Bacteria

Press Release

Congressman Matheson reintroduced a bill today to help address the growing number of patients who become resistant to antibiotics. The Strategies to Address Antimicrobial Resistance (STAAR) Act was filed Thursday in the U.S. House of Representatives.

"My bill takes a common sense approach to better understand and monitor the cause and spread of antiviral resistant infections. It will improve antibiotic development and ultimately help people who need and rely on antibiotics," Matheson said. "Antimicrobial resistance is often caused by the overuse of antibiotics and my bill addresses this problem by calling for data collection on antibiotic use as well as research to combat so-called "superbugs.'"

The STAAR Act would provide authority for the federal government to combat antimicrobial resistance by:

Reauthorizing the Antimicrobial Resistance Task Force, establishing an Advisory Board of outside experts and an Office of Antimicrobial Resistance reporting to the Secretary of Health and Human Services whose director will oversee government efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance.
Collecting available data to allow the government to better assess the antimicrobial resistance problem including how antibiotic use triggers the development of resistance.
Establishing demonstration projects to encourage more appropriate use of existing antibiotics.

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