It’s been called public health’s ticking time bomb. Antibiotic resistance—when bacteria don’t respond to the drugs designed to kill them—threatens to return us to the time when simple infections were often fatal. Today, antibiotic resistance annually causes more than 2 million illnesses and 23,000 deaths in the United States. Tomorrow, if it continues on its current course, could be even worse:
- A simple cut of the finger could lead to a life-threatening infection.
- Common surgical procedures, such as hip and knee replacements, would be far riskier because of the danger of infection.
- Dialysis patients could develop untreatable bloodstream infections.
- Life-saving treatments that suppress immune systems, such as chemotherapy and organ transplants, could potentially cause more harm than good.
- Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) causes deadly diarrhea mostly in people who’ve recently had medical care and antibiotics.
- Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) are nightmare bacteria that are resistant to nearly all antibiotics and spread easily.
- MDR Neisseria gonorrhoeae causes gonorrhea and is showing resistance to antibiotics usually used to treat it.
- Extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL) are bacteria one step away from becoming CRE.
- MDR Salmonella causes about 100,000 illnesses in the US each year; resistant infections are more severe.
- Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) causes skin and wound infections, pneumonia, and bloodstream infections.
- MDR Pseudomonas causes healthcare-associated pneumonia and bloodstream infections; some strains are resistant to nearly all antibiotics.
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