Researchers publish call to action to prevent the next epidemic of inequality from AMR

In the United States, findings from research on racial and ethnic disparities from antibiotic-resistant infections are inadequate. While racial and ethnic data are not routinely collected, certain studies do suggest that Black, Hispanic, and lower-income people are at higher risk of drug-resistant infections. For instance, community-associated MRSA incidence is 1.66 times greater among black patients than among whites in the United States. The letter in Nature Medicine highlights that the U.S. new National Action Plan on AMR does not prioritize racial or ethnic disparities in AR-related outcomes for investigation or intervention. The researchers call for the scientific community to: 1) evaluate the scale of underlying disparities in AR-related morbidity and mortality; 2) improve AR literacy in low-income and minority communities; 3) acknowledge that race or ethnicity is only one factor that might underlie disparities in AR; 4) disparities in AR may be driven by global changes and 5) AMR research and policy community members acknowledge and address their own racial and ethnic biases.