According to a recent Center for Disease Control study, an estimated 2.8 million people get infected by antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” each year, with around 35,000 killed every day. These figures are nearly twice as large as those from a 2013 CDC study. These microbes are a direct result of pathogens evolving to become resistant to what people used to call “miracle drugs” – antibiotics that used to work at extraordinarily high rates. The new CDC study called this new trend as the beginning of the “post-antibiotic era”.
The new rates of antibiotic-resistant diseases alarmed epidemiologists across the world. The data shows that someone becomes infected with a superbug every 11 seconds and someone dies every 15 minutes. These diseases are present in all 50 states and across the globe.
Among the most alarming bugs are Candida auris and carbapenem-resistant acinetobacter. Candida auris is a drug-resistant fungus spreading in hospitals since 2015, and acinetobacter is causing pneumonia in hospital Intensive Care Units. Despite increasing rates of superbugs, deaths in hospitals from antibiotic-resistant pathogens had decreased by 28% between 2012 and 2017. The CDC hopes that news of the new prevalence of superbugs will drive awareness and research in alleviating the problem.
