The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released its report updating the state of infection prevalence and antibiotic-resistance threats, according to an article on the Infection Control Today website.
CDC categorizes pathogenic infection threats as concerning, serious, or urgent. Two superbugs have been newly placed in the urgent category: the fungus Candida auris and the bacteria carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter (they join C. difficile, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriacese, and drug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae).
The report also revealed that more people have died from antibiotic-resistant infections than was previously believed. In 2013, the CDC estimated that 23,000 people a year die as a result of antibiotic-resistant germs. The new estimate is 44,000.
Prevention methods seem to be working, however. Although the overall number of deaths each year is higher, the overall number of people dying from antibiotic-resistant infections has dropped since 2013.
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