In this antibiotic-resistance test, bacteria are streaked on the dish with antibiotic-impregnated white disks. Bacteria in the culture on the left are susceptible to the antibiotic in each disk, as shown by the dark, clear rings where bacteria have not grown. Those on the right are fully susceptible to only three of the seven antibiotics tested.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are pressing health facilities in each region to share data with a central public-health facility to help stem the increasing number of drug-resistant “superbugs.” It  says that such sharing and coordination could save more than half a million lives over five years.

The Washington Post notes that “Hospitals or nursing homes try to control infections on their own, but they rarely tell each other when a patient being transferred into another facility is carrying antibiotic-resistant bacteria. That lack of information greatly increases the risk that the germ will be spread.”

In this area, too, America’s fragmented and exorbitantly priced health “system” needs to have more silos blown up.