A new paper from CDC and the University of Utah published in Clinical Infectious Diseases estimates that the national healthcare costs associated with infections caused by six antibiotic-resistant pathogens cost more than $4.6 billion each year. The paper adds to the body of evidence outlining the tremendous impact of antibiotic resistance, building upon CDC’s 2019 Antibiotic Resistance (AR) Threats Report, which found that, “more than 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur in the U.S. each year, and more than 35,000 people die as a result.”

The six pathogens frequently found in health care settings were listed in the 2019 AR Threats Report as causing nearly 622,400 total infections in 2017:

• Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE)
• Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter species
• Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
• Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE)
• Extended-spectrum cephalosporin resistance in Enterobacterales suggestive of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) production
• Multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa