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Legislation filed to address emerging infectious diseases

Infection Control Monitor, February 4, 2005

Several U.S. senators, including Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), on January 24 filed a bill that would prepare the nation for pandemic influenza and other emerging infectious diseases.

The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) this week says it supports the homeland security bill and would work with Congress to enact comprehensive legislation to spur the development of new medicines, vaccines, and diagnostics for infectious diseases, particularly new antibiotics that target drug-resistant infections.

The bill would extend patents for biodefense and infectious disease products, strengthen intellectual property rights, create tax incentives, and reform liability laws.

"It's a simple fact; infectious disease physicians are running out of the tools we desperately need to treat patients. At the same time that we are seeing an increase in drug-resistant infections, we are also seeing a decline in the development of new antibiotics to treat such infections," IDSA President Walter E. Stamm, MD, said in a prepared statement.

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