Antibiotic-Resistance Threats Report Says These Bacteria Are Here to Stay
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have released their second Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States report, and antibiotic-resistant (AR) bacteria are here to stay. According to the report, more than 2.8 million AR infections occur and 35,000 people die every year. Those numbers have increased from the first report in 2013, where conservative estimates tallied 2 million cases of AR infections and at least 23,000 deaths. Robert R. Redfield, M.D., Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, emphasized the seriousness of the report’s findings…
Antibiotic resistance has been found in every U.S. state and in every country across the globe. There is no safe place from antibiotic resistance, but everyone can take action against it. Take action where you can, from handwashing to improving antibiotic use.”
Awareness is Key
Though the number of deaths from AR bacteria has risen since 2013, the overall percentage of deaths has gone down by eighteen percent. Yet AR bacteria were the cause of more than 85 percent of total deaths calculated in this report. The CDC listed 18 bacteria to monitor, with five designated as urgent threats: Candida Auris, carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Clostridioides difficile.
Related: How To Heal Your Gut
A Brand New Day
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are no longer the bad guy in a science fiction film. They are an everyday fact of life.
The Threat Report has strategies for stopping antibiotic-resistant bacteria, but that’s no longer possible. Past experience will show that no amount of scrubbing, regardless of who’s cleaning and what they’re using, will be able to completely eliminate bacteria. Much of the difficulties we are now dealing with come from institutional failures, where the medical and agricultural fields chose antibiotic shortcuts over building a microbially healthy world. That has created bacteria on a scale that we are no longer able to easily contain. The bubble is gone.