Letter urges HHS to convene meeting of advisory group on antimicrobial resistance

News brief

A coalition of 41 infectious disease, medical, veterinary, and public health organizations has signed on to a letter to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) calling for a federal advisory committee on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to meet as soon as possible.

The President's Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria (PACCARB), a group established in 2014 to provide recommendations to HHS for addressing the AMR threat, was scheduled to meet on January 28 to 29 to develop recommendations for the 2025-2030 National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria. But that meeting was canceled amid a larger HHS pause on government-related scientific meetings.

Since the cancelation, there has been no word of when the PACCARB meeting will be rescheduled. HHS did not respond to an email from CIDRAP News inquiring about the meeting and the status of the advisory group. Earlier this year, several health-related federal advisory groups were terminated under an executive order from the Trump administration.

Groups 'deeply concerned' meeting hasn't been rescheduled

In a letter sent earlier this month to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and signed by 40 organizations, the American Society for Microbiology said that stakeholder organizations are deeply concerned that the meeting has not been rescheduled, adding that the delay could slow the pace of the federal and private-sector response to AMR. The national action plan, last updated in 2020, serves as a roadmap to guide the nation's response to the rise and spread of drug-resistant bacteria, which contribute to more than 160,000 US deaths each year.

"AMR is a complex problem, and addressing AMR requires collaboration across human health, agricultural and environmental sectors and coordination across the federal government," the letter states. "We urge HHS to convene a PACCARB meeting as soon as possible."

PACCARB includes experts in infectious diseases and human and veterinary medicine, along with representatives of federal agencies. The group typically meets twice a year.

Kentucky widens CWD surveillance area after recent detection

News brief

Stephanie Soucheray, MA

does in field — Artur Pedziwilk / Flickr cc

The Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission last week added three more counties in Western Kentucky to the state's chronic wasting disease (CWD) surveillance area following the detection of CWD in a deer harvested just across the Ohio River in Posey County, Indiana.

The state’s surveillance area now includes Ballard, Breckinridge, Calloway, Carlisle, Fulton, Graves, Hardin, Hickman, Marshall, Meade, and McCracken counties.

The first case of CWD was detected in Kentucky in 2023 in Ballard County.

Mandatory testing in 3 counties

Within the zone of surveillance are specific regulations now in effect, including mandated CWD testing of deer harvested during the first three days of the gun season in November in Henderson, Union, and Webster counties. Additionally, in those counties, whole animal carcasses cannot leave or be transported outside of county lines.

CWD is fatal prion disease that affects cervids such as deer, elk, and moose. The neurodegenerative disease spreads through cervid-to-cervid contact and environmental contamination. There is no vaccine or cure.

So far, CWD disease isn't known to infect people, but some experts fear it could cause illness similar to another prion disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy ("mad cow" disease).

Ethiopia, Benin confirm new polio cases

News brief

Jim Wappes

Ethiopia has confirmed four new polio cases and Benin one, according to the latest update late last week from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). All five patients were infected with circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2).

All Ethiopian patients are from Oromia state, with paralysis onset in February through April. Officials have confirmed 33 cVDPV2 cases in Ethiopia in 2025. That compares with 43 cases in all of 2024.

The illness in Benin is in Borgou department, and the patient first had symptoms on May 14. It's the second confirmed cVDPV2 case in Benin this year, compared with a single reported case last year.