Antimicrobial resistance threats in the United States, 2021-2022 fact sheet
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently published a fact sheet using new data to update the U.S. burden of seven antimicrobial-resistant pathogens typically found in healthcare.
The pathogens are:
- Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE)
- Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter
- Candida auris (C. auris)
- Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
- Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE)
- Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacterales
- Multidrug-resistant (MDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa
CDC previously reported that the burden of these pathogens increased in the U.S. in 2020 in the COVID-19 Impact Report. The new data describe the burden in the two following years, 2021 and 2022, and compares against 2019 data.
The new data show that six bacterial antimicrobial-resistant hospital-onset infections increased by a combined 20% during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period, peaking in 2021, and remaining above pre-pandemic levels in 2022. In 2022, rates for all but one of these pathogens (MRSA) remained above pre-pandemic levels. In addition, the number of reported clinical cases of C. auris—a type of yeast that can spread in healthcare facilities, is often resistant to antifungal medications, and can cause severe illness—increased nearly five-fold from 2019 to 2022.
