STAT+: ‘Eye-opening’: The pandemic accelerated antimicrobial resistance across the U.S.
Resistance to medicines for combating superbugs has considerably worsened during the pandemic, with deaths and infections from several serious pathogens increasing at least 15% during the first year of the crisis, according to a new report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The increased rates for some infections, however, were much larger. For instance, there was 78% jump among those infected with acinetobacter, a gram-negative bacteria; a 60% rise in a fungal disease known as candida auris, and a 32% percent rise in infections from another gram-negative bacteria, called enterobacterales. These infections and others are resistant to antibiotics and anti-fungal medicines.
