Web Site Provides Data On Bacterial Drug Resistance

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A new site on the World Wide Web that provides immediate access to information about trends in antibiotic resistance has attracted major interest, recording more than 80,000 hits -- 40 percent of them from outside the U.S. -- during its first month online.

Resistance Web™ includes a comprehensive database that allows physicians and medical researchers to construct customized queries on susceptibility patterns of different bacteria to specific antibiotics, both regionally and nationally. They can choose graphing options, and download graphs for use in professional presentations. Users, who must register as members, also may choose to receive site updates by e-mail.

The Web site draws on 10 years of drug-resistance tracking, drug-utilization data and demographic information compiled by its developers at the Clinical Pharmacokinetics Laboratory of Millard Fillmore Health System and the University at Buffalo.

"Analyzing bacterial resistance trends with antibiotic utilization may be the key to a better understanding of how we as researchers and clinicians can modify our antibiotic-prescribing habits to slow the increase in resistance to commonly prescribed antibiotics," said Jerome J. Schentag, Pharm.D., UB professor of pharmaceutics and director of the laboratory.

Schentag said it's hoped that by sharing timely, useful data on bacterial resistance with other clinicians and researchers, the site will assist in the process of resistance awareness and encourage focused surveillance activities at a local level.

Initial funding for Resistance Web™ was provided by Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Pharmaceuticals Inc. The URL for the site is http://resistanceweb.mfhs.edu/

This site is provided free of charge as a research and educational tool for science and medical professionals. Use of the information contained in the site is subject to a legal agreement between the user and the sponsor of the site contained in "terms and conditions" included in the site.