CDC announces ‘Superbugs’ are urgent
threat
The CDC reported urgent health threats
from three superbugs: antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea, a diarrhea-causing
superbug and a class of fast-growing killer bacteria. All three were
classified as urgent public health threats in the US. The CDC released a
new report stating that at least 2 million people in the US develop serious
bacterial infections that are resistant to one or more antibiotics each year
and at least 23,000 die from the infection. Overprescribing of antibiotics is
the main cause of antibiotic resistance. The urgent threats are
resistant gonorrhea, c-diff., and carbapenem-resistant
Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE.
Urgent threat not just in the US
Last March, the chief medical officer for
England said antibiotic resistance is a “catastrophic health threat.”
Also, last year, the World Health Organization published a report saying that
the ‘superbug’ strain of gonorrhea has spread to several European
countries.
Urgent
threat
According to previous reports, CRE
accounts for 9,300 healthcare-associated infections yearly. The two most common
types of CRE account for 600 deaths a year. There has been an increase
from presence in 1 state to 38 states in the last decade.
Urgent threat
C-diff. which causes life-threatening
diarrhea, can spread on hospital equipment or the hands of healthcare workers
and visitors. C-diff is not killed by the alcohol gel in the patients
rooms, you must use soap and water. The use of antibiotics
kills the protective bacteria in the stomach, allowing c-diff to
flourish. According to reports, c-diff causes 250,000 infections and
kills 14,000 people in the US each year and adds $1 billion in excess medical
costs a year.
Urgent threat
The drug resistant gonorrhea causes 246,000
US cases each year. Gonorrhea is especially troubling because it is easily
spread, and infections are easily missed. In the US, there are
approximately 300,000 cases, but because people have no symptoms, the CDC
estimates the number closer to 820,000. If left untreated, it can
lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, stillbirths, ectopic pregnancy,
infertility in men and women and severe eye infections in babies.
Urgent threat
These infections are believed to be a
looming public-health crisis.
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