The infection rates of ` -nightmard bacteria” have increased by almost 70% since 2019, said CDC

Bacteria that is difficult to treat due to the so-called NDM gene mainly led the increase, wrote the CDC researchers in an article published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Only two antibiotics are working against these infections, and drugs are expensive and should be administered through an intravenousness, researchers said.

Bacteria with the gene were once considered exotic, linked to a small number of patients who received medical care abroad. Although the figures are still low, the rate of American cases has jumped for more than five years in recent years, the researchers have reported.

“The rise of NDMs in the United States is a serious danger and very worrying,” said David Weiss, researcher of infectious diseases from Emory University, in an email.

It is likely that many people are unrecognized carriers of drug -resistant bacteria, which could lead to the propagation of the community, said CDC scientists.

This can be played in doctors’ cabinets across the country, because infections have long considered a routine and easy to treat – like urinary tract infections – could become chronic problems, said Dr. Maroya Walters, one of the authors of the report.

Resistance to antimicrobials occurs when germs such as bacteria and fungi gain the power to combat drugs designed to kill them. The abusive use of antibiotics was a great reason for the climb – unfinished or unnecessary prescriptions which did not kill the germs made them stronger.

In recent years, the CDC has drawn attention to “nightmare bacteria” resistant to a wide range of antibiotics. This includes carbapenmes, a class of antibiotics considered as a last resort for the treatment of serious infections.

The researchers have drawn data from 29 states which carry out the necessary tests and reports of carbapenem -resistant bacteria.

They counted 4,341 cases of bacterial infections resistant to the carbapénem of these states in 2023, with 1,831 of them the NDM variety. The researchers did not say how many infected people died.

The rate of carbapenem resistant infections increased from just under 2 per 100,000 people in 2019 to more than 3 per 100,000 in 2023, an increase of 69%. But the rate of NDM cases increased from around 0.25 to around 1.35 – an increase of 460%, the authors said.

A researcher not involved in the study said that the increase is probably linked to the COVVI-19 pandemic.

“We know that there was a huge increase in the use of antibiotics during the pandemic, so this is probably reflected in the increase in resistance to drugs,” said Dr. Jason Burnham, researcher at the University of Washington, in an email.

The number of CDC is only a partial image.

Many states do not test and do not completely signal cases. Even in states that do so, cases tend to be part of hospital patients sick enough to justify special tests. Many hospitals are not able to do the necessary tests either to detect certain forms of genetic resistance.

CDC researchers did not have data from some of the most populous states, notably in California, Florida, New York and Texas, which means that the absolute number of American infections “is definitively underestimated,” said Burnham.

This is not the first study to report an increase. A CDC report published in June noted an increase in NDM cases in New York between 2019 and 2024.

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The Department of Health and Sciences of the Associated Press receives the support of the Department of Science Education from Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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