"The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is raising alarm about a sharp spike in infections from dangerous bacteria that are resistant to some of the strongest antibiotics. A report released on Tuesday by CDC scientists found that, between 2019 and 2023, there was as much as a 461 percent increase in the infection rate of certain bacteria in the group Enterobacterales that can thwart many antibiotic treatments, including a powerful class of drugs known as carbapenems."
"It was shocking to see how large of an increase it was, says Danielle Rankin, a co-author of the new report and an epidemiologist at the CDC's Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion. The biggest thing for us is that we understand where this is happening because we want to ensure that this does not go outside of health care settings [and] into the community and cause more difficult to treat infections."
Between 2019 and 2023 infections from certain Enterobacterales that resist carbapenem antibiotics increased by as much as 461 percent in the United States. Carbapenems are used to treat severe multidrug-resistant infections including pneumonia and bloodstream, bone and urinary tract infections. Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) are difficult to treat and can be fatal; in 2020 CRE caused about 12,700 infections and 1,100 deaths in the U.S. CRE infections remain mostly hospital-associated, but the sharp rise raises concern about potential spread into the community. Enterobacterales include Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, and resistance can emerge when bacteria acquire specific resistance genes.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
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