i think the reason why we're here today is because since 1927 when alexander fleming discovered penicillin unl till now, for many years we were doing well. antibiotics were defeating these bugs. then we kind of fell asleep, and the bugs are very smart. they have genetic mutations. they talk to each other. when one dies, a gene can go to someone else. resistance builds up, and meanwhile, our companies did not invent new antibiotics. it takes a lot of money and years. >> what should i tell my doctor? >> how do you go to your doctor and say you're overprescribing? >> you have to be sensitive with doctors. don't attack your doctors. >> don't put me on it, i want to wait? >> are we treating bacterias or are we treating a virus? that's a big thing. when you go to the hospital, you have to wash your hands. if the doctor comes in and goes from patient to patient, do you mind washing your hands? look what goes on in the hospitals. a lot of it has to do with our ventilation. catheters and blood born, and we have to be moomore cautious. >> i want to emphasis about c-defand other bacteria. we're wipin

we're probably most familiar as americans with the scottish scientist, alexander fleming, who developed pencil inwhich became -- penicillin. last week the centers for disease control and prevention called anti-my control boardian resistance one of our most serious health threats. other antimicrobials have been in essence a victim of their own success. we used these drugs so widely for so long and sometimes not so wisely and indiscriminate that will the microbes they are designed to kill have adapted to them, making the drugs less effective or in some cases totally ineffective. i stand before you today to remind you of the need for a comprehensive strategy to address microbial resistance. each year about 2 million americans contract bacterial infections in hospitals. 20,000 of these people die because the microbes causing their infections are resistant to frequently used antibiotics. one of the most commonly reported antimicrobial-resistant infections, something called mrsa, it's a strain of staff infection resistant to penicillin and resistant to other related antibiotics. once thought