The World Health Organization is warning drug-resistant bacteria, dubbed ‘superbugs’ are on the rise.
These bacteria do not respond to the first-line antibiotics often used by clinicians.
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Dr. Thomas Holland, an infectious disease specialist who sees patients at Duke University Hospital, explained there are several types of these bacteria that can turn routine infections into serious, or even deadly ones.
“The antibiotic-resistant infection that's the most common in the U.S. is MRSA or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. That's one that we've been dealing with for a number of decades, and remains common here,” said Holland.
Holland said a relatively new fungal pathogen called Candida auris is also on the rise.
Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found a particularly dangerous drug-resistant bacteria called NDM-producing carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (NDM-CRE) rose 460% between 2019 and 2023 across the U.S.
The rise in NDM-CRE infections was found in patients with things like pneumonia, bloodstream infections, urinary tract infections, and wound infections.
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) has also been tracking a rise in antibiotic resistance statewide.
“The concern is that we’re not keeping pace as far as antibiotic development and control of these infections with their rise,” Holland said. “Things that we could normally treat relatively easily, like urinary tract infections or staph infections, are becoming harder to treat. That has costs and implications for all of us.”
The CDC estimates 2.8 million drug-resistant bacteria infections are reported each year, with an estimated 35,000 deaths.
Holland told WRAL the source of the increase is multifactorial.
“One is that we aren’t keeping pace with new antibiotic development as fast as the bacteria and the fungi and different germs are evolving,” Holland said. “Another issue is surveillance. We need to be able to know what’s out there. We have to invest in and keep testing the different germs that our patients have or that are in our livestock to understand what these patterns are.”
Overuse of antibiotics, including in cases where they are not needed as in viral infections, has also believed to be contributing to a growth in antibiotic-resistant infections.
“The more we use antibiotics and put selection pressure on bacteria, the more they’re going to evolve resistance,” Holland explained. “If you have a common cold, it’s not bacterial and antibiotics in that situation are not going to help you and are going to contribute to driving this evolution of resistance for everybody else.”
The infectious disease specialist also shared that warming temperatures are a contributing factor.
“We live in a warming environment. Things that weren’t normally in North Carolina, like some fungal infections, are now popping up here. We’re seeing viral infections that normally would have been in the tropics, now showing up in the U.S. and North Carolina,” he explained.
Holland said combating the rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria will require a long-term, focused response.
“We have to know and understand what our local trends are for resistance. If I’m treating a patient who is really sick with a urinary tract infection, I have to understand – until I have culture results back – I may have to use something that’s broader or can cover a wider range of pathogens up front,” Holland said.
The physician said the increase is concerning but does not want patients to panic, stating, “This is not a stay-in-your-home situation.”
He continued, “This is something that requires a concerted and large societal response over time. Wash your hands and just having good hand hygiene is helpful for not spreading these bugs.”