Earlier this week, I spoke out about the alarming new data from the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System which shows an increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the meat we buy to feed our families. A story that ran in the New York Times Science section also caught my eye. The article was about a strain of pneumonia that has become resistant even to the antibiotic of last resort used to fight it. We simply cannot continue to allow one of the greatest inventions of all time, the antibiotic, to become obsolete.

I truly believe this is the greatest public health crisis threatening our nation. Estimates are that 100,000 people die every year from antibiotic-resistant infections. That's about 274 people a day. Can you imagine not acting to stop any preventable cause that kills more Americans per day than gun violence or HIV/AIDS? It is time not only for Congress to do something about it, but for the American people to truly understand what this means for our families – especially our parents and our children.

Below are some resources from the Center for Disease Control to help you get educated about how your antibiotics are working – and what might be keeping them from working. I will keep doing my part to pass the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act, which would protect eight classes of antibiotics for use in human health and end their routine overuse in food-animals. I hope that you will take this opportunity to learn what you can do!

http://www.cdc.gov/features/antibioticresistance/

http://www.cdc.gov/getsmart/index.html

http://www.cdc.gov/narms/get-smart.html

http://www.cdc.gov/getsmart/antibiotic-use/antibiotic-resistance-faqs.html