CDC Publishes Fact Sheet on Anti-Microbial Pathogens in Hospital Settings

CDC has published a new fact sheet that updates the U.S. burden of seven anti-microbial pathogens typically found in healthcare settings.

Six of the seven 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.”

The COVID-19 pandemic likely played a part in these increasing numbers, as it “resulted in longer hospital stays for hospitalized patients (including those diagnosed with COVID-19), challenged the implementation of infection prevention and control practices, and increased inappropriate antibiotic use.”

Health departments have been investing more in antimicrobial resistance prevention funding. In the first year of work, there have been 9,000 “prevention-based infection control assessments in healthcare facilities;” 50,000 “outbreak responses to novel multidrug-resistant germs;” and 90,000 “healthcare workers trained in infection prevention and control.”

Additionally, starting in 2025, “CDC will release estimates for at least 19 antimicrobial resistance threats and an update on the U.S. burden of antimicrobial resistance, by pathogen, in a new electronic format.”