CDC: Drug-resistant infections now kill 50,800 Americans a year, up sharply from 2019

Drug-resistant bacteria and fungi now kill an estimated 50,800 Americans every year and cause 9.7 million infections annually, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday — figures that dwarf the agency's last count of 35,000 deaths and 2.8 million infections in its 2019 report.

Antimicrobial resistance threatens modern medicine and puts millions of Americans at risk every year.— Dr. Erica Schwartz, Director, CDC

The CDC's updated Antimicrobial Resistance Threats Report, based on 2023 data, ranks 19 drug-resistant pathogens across three threat levels: four classified as 'urgent,' 13 as 'serious,' and two as 'concerning.' The agency cautions that its data sources and methodologies changed substantially since 2019, so the two reports should not be directly compared — though officials and infectious disease experts say the findings still represent a genuine and growing public health threat.

At the top of the urgent list is Candida auris, a fungus that was first detected in U.S. hospitals just ten years ago. It caused 4,523 infections in 2023 — a tenfold increase from 2019 — and reported cases jumped more than 50% between 2022 and 2023 alone, according to the CDC. One class of antifungal medications is almost entirely ineffective against C. auris, and resistance to the remaining two classes is beginning to emerge. It is fatal in 29% to 62% of patients, according to Tom Chiller, former chief of the Mycotic Diseases Branch at the CDC.

We need more drug development for sure. For C auris we also need to figure out how to decolonize patients and rapidly disinfect healthcare environments. This will require lots more screening of patients and healthcare settings.— Tom Chiller, Chief Medical Officer, IMMY; former CDC Mycotic Diseases Branch Chief

The fungus primarily strikes patients already seriously ill in hospitals and nursing homes, spreading through medical equipment such as breathing tubes and catheters. People can also carry it on their skin without becoming sick and spread it to surrounding surfaces.

Also on the urgent list are two bacteria resistant to carbapenems — among the strongest antibiotics available. Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE), a family of gut bacteria that includes E. coli, was responsible for an estimated 14,878 infections and 1,252 deaths among hospitalized patients in 2023. A CDC study published in September 2025 found CRE incidence at U.S. hospitals rose 18% from 2019 to 2023, according to CIDRAP. Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter rounds out the urgent category, also capable of causing severe infections with few remaining treatment options.

We are seeing more incidences of CRE in our hospital compared with five years ago.— Dr. Haley Ann Pritchard, Medical Director of Infection Prevention and Antimicrobial Stewardship, Eskenazi Health Hospital; IDSA Spokesperson

The fourth urgent threat is drug-resistant gonorrhea. The CDC puts the number of drug-resistant gonorrhea infections in 2023 at approximately 787,000. Left untreated, gonorrhea can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, infertility, and increased risk of HIV infection, according to CIDRAP. The report notes that "healthcare providers only have a few antibiotics that can effectively treat this infection."

One of the report's notable additions to the serious threat category is drug-resistant Neisseria meningitidis — meningococcus — which can cause meningitis and bloodstream infections. Unlike most germs in the report, which spread primarily in healthcare settings, meningococcus spreads in everyday environments through close contact: kissing, sharing drinks, or living in close quarters such as college dormitories. According to the CDC, its addition to the list reflects a wider increase in drug-resistant infections occurring outside healthcare settings.

These numbers are alarming by any measure but are particularly sobering when infectious diseases physicians connect real patients with these statistics in their everyday experience.— Dr. Wendy Armstrong, President, Infectious Diseases Society of America

The report also carries a rare piece of good news. Clostridioides difficile — a gut infection commonly known as C. diff that triggers severe diarrhea and is frequently set off by antibiotic use — has been moved down from the urgent to the serious threat category. Infection rates fell 21% between 2018 and 2020 and have remained stable since, which the CDC says demonstrates that careful antibiotic use and infection prevention measures can work. Still, C. diff was responsible for an estimated 412,504 infections in 2023, with people 65 and older contracting it at 4.5 to five times the rate of younger adults.

The CDC is also monitoring a watch list of six additional pathogens whose full impact is not yet known. Included on that list is drug-resistant ringworm, an ordinary fungal skin infection that standard antifungal medications are increasingly struggling to control. The agency says misuse of over-the-counter antifungal creams and steroid-antifungal cream combinations may be contributing to that resistance.

Healthcare-associated infections accounted for more than 42,000 of the 50,800 annual deaths and cost the U.S. healthcare system more than $12 billion in 2023. When a pathogen resists available drugs, patients may face a narrowed set of treatment options, extended hospital stays, and greater exposure to potentially fatal complications.

The CDC cautions that antibiotics are effective only against bacterial infections and should be taken solely on the advice of a healthcare professional, as they have no effect on viruses such as those responsible for colds and flu. Protective steps the agency recommends include washing hands frequently, keeping vaccinations up to date, and taking measures to limit the spread of infections.

This data shows both the progress we've made and the significant work that remains. High-quality data help drive action, and CDC is committed to providing easily accessible information to help protect people from drug-resistant infections.— Dr. Erica Schwartz, Director, CDC

Why it matters — Drug-resistant infections are no longer a distant threat — they kill more than 50,000 Americans a year, cost the healthcare system $12 billion, and are spreading beyond hospitals into everyday community settings, with few new drugs in the pipeline to replace the ones losing effectiveness.

Reported by washingtonpost.com, cidrap.umn.edu, abcnews.com