Curbing antibiotic use in war on superbugs

Hospitals are turning to an antibiotic SWAT team to win the war against "superbugs." The efforts are known as antimicrobial stewardship programs, and team top pharmacists, infectious-disease specialists, and microbiologists. The groups monitor the use of a hospital's antibiotics and restrict prescriptions of specific drugs when they become less effective at fighting infections. The hospital programs come as legislation is pending in Congress to create a federal office of antimicrobial resistance and a public-health network to help detect emerging resistant strains of bacteria before they become a national threat.