Antimicrobial-resistant hospital-acquired infections increased 20%

On July 16, 2024, the United States CDC issued a press release highlighting its newest fact sheet on antimicrobial resistance threats nationwide. According to the updated fact sheet, bacterial antimicrobial-resistant hospital-onset infections increased by 20% during the pandemic when compared to pre-pandemic levels.

The data reported that the following pathogens are the most common antimicrobial-resistant organisms found in healthcare settings across the US: Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE), Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter, Candida auris (C. auris), Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE), Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacterales, and Multidrug-resistant (MDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

While the magnitude of each organism’s impact varies, the report revealed that C. auris increased fivefold from 2019 to 2022.

“The increases in antimicrobial resistance (AR) burden seen in 2020 and 2021 are likely due in part to the impact of COVID-19, which pushed healthcare facilities, health departments, and communities near their breaking points. This resulted in longer hospital stays for hospitalized patients (including those diagnosed with COVID-19), challenged the implementation of infection prevention and control practices, and increased inappropriate antibiotic use,” noted the CDC in the fact sheet.

The CDC lists multiple threats to antimicrobial resistance and outlines how it has changed from 2019 to 2021. Urgent threats include hospital-onset CRE — which has increased between 2019 and 2022 despite infection rates remaining stable between 2021 and 2022 — hospital-onset Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter, and clinical cases of C. auris. Serious threats include hospital-onset MRSA, VRE, ESBL-producing Enterobacterales MDR Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Antimicrobial resistance presents a serious challenge to the healthcare industry, as there are only a limited number of antimicrobials. Many healthcare organizations and public health entities have taken steps to minimize antimicrobial resistance.

For example, the CDC notes that the American Rescue Plan Act has offered funding to multiple health departments, allowing them to conduct over 9,000 prevention-based infection control assessments, 50,000 outbreak responses to novel multi-drug-resistant germs, and infection prevention and control training for over 90,000 healthcare professionals.

Beyond domestic efforts, in November 2023, the WHO also released strategies for preventing or addressing antimicrobial resistance. Taking steps to prevent and control infection is critical until researchers can develop next-generation antibiotics.