Deaths from antibiotic-resistant infections are double what was believed, reveals a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that warns that so-called "superviruses" are responsible for more than 35,000 fatalities (the equivalent of one every fifteen minutes) and almost 3 million diseases every year – one every 11 seconds.
“This is not a fictional apocalypse. It's reality. It's here and now, ”Victoria Fraser, head of the Department of Medicine at the University of Washington in St Louis, told NBC News, who was not involved with the CDC report. "We face trying to care for patients who have infections for which there is no treatment," he adds.
According to the new CDC report, there are now 5 superviruses or “nightmare bacteria” that represent an “urgent threat,” two more than in 2013 when the previous estimate was made. The five most dangerous are candida auris, carbapenem acinetobacter, carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae or CRE, neisseria gonorrhoeae, and clostridioides difficile. 18 germs in total appear in the general list.
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“The 2013 report led the nation to take critical actions and invest to prevent antibiotic resistance. Today's report shows that there is progress but that the threat is still real, ”said Robert Redfield, director of the CDC during a conference call.
However, the increase in the number of recorded fatalities responds more to an improvement in data collection and not as such to an increase in deaths. Redfield stressed that in reality deaths from very resistant germs have been reduced by 18%.
Even so, the threat remains latent. "Some miracle drugs no longer work miracles," the report emphasizes.
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Drug resistance responds to the overuse of antibiotics and other antimicrobials which causes bacteria to evolve to survive and find new mechanisms to defeat medicines.
“We have to use the right antibiotic in the right amount (not too little, not too much),” insists Marty, who helped write a report that contains the suggested action plan to address this threat between 2020-2025.
Older people and children are more likely to get a supervirus, but they are not immune to them. According to Marty, to protect yourself, you have to follow the same measures we take to avoid any infection.
The "nightmare bacteria"
