The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released its 2026 Antimicrobial Resistance Threats Report, estimating that the 19 drug-resistant germs it tracks cause about 9.7 million infections and 50,800 deaths in the United States each year. The report, published on October 27, 2026, is based on 2023 estimates and updated surveillance methods, and it ranks the pathogens into urgent, serious and concerning threat levels.
Key Takeaways
- The CDC’s 2026 report estimates 19 drug-resistant pathogens cause about 9.7 million infections and 50,800 deaths in the US each year.
- Four pathogens are rated urgent threats: Candida auris, carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales and drug-resistant gonorrhoea.
- Candida auris infections have risen about tenfold since 2019, while C. difficile was downgraded from urgent to serious after infection rates fell.
Antimicrobial resistance, often called drug resistance, happens when germs such as bacteria and fungi develop the ability to defeat the medicines designed to kill them. Infections then become difficult or impossible to treat, and the CDC describes resistance as an urgent global public health threat. The new report is the agency’s most comprehensive to date, drawing on broader data sources than earlier editions, which is why the CDC says its new totals should not be compared directly with the 2019 report.
The Four Urgent Threats
The urgent list, which the CDC says calls for aggressive action, has four entries. The first is Candida auris, a fungus that can spread in healthcare settings and resist antifungal medicines. The second and third are carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales, groups of bacteria that resist carbapenems, a class of antibiotics often used as a last resort. The fourth is drug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the bacterium that causes gonorrhoea, which accounted for about 787,000 infections in 2023.
Threat levels in the report are set using seven factors: clinical impact, economic impact, current infection numbers, the projected change in infections over the next five years, how easily a pathogen spreads, how preventable it is, and whether effective treatments exist. Thirteen pathogens are rated serious, including MRSA, drug-resistant tuberculosis, drug-resistant Shigella and drug-resistant Salmonella. Two streptococcus threats, group A and group B, sit in the concerning category, which calls for careful monitoring and prevention.
Infections then become difficult or impossible to treat, and the CDC describes resistance as an urgent global public health threat.
What Is Rising, and What Improved
Two trends in the report stand out. Candida auris infections have surged about tenfold since 2019, and some strains now resist practically all available antifungals, according to reporting on the CDC’s findings. Resistance genes such as NDM, found in carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales, have also spread rapidly, with a separate CDC study finding those infections rose by more than 460 percent between 2019 and 2023.
There is also a rare piece of good news. Clostridioides difficile, known as C. difficile, was downgraded from an urgent threat to a serious threat after infection rates fell, a change the CDC links in part to successful infection prevention in healthcare settings. Drug-resistant Neisseria meningitidis was added as a serious threat, and three pathogens — drug-resistant dermatophytes, drug-resistant Haemophilus influenzae and nontuberculous mycobacteria — were added to a watch list of germs being monitored because their full burden is not yet understood.
The higher headline totals also need careful reading. The CDC’s 2019 report estimated around 2.8 million infections and 35,000 deaths a year, but the agency says the newer estimate is far higher largely because it draws on a broader, more complete set of data and updated methods. That does not mean the underlying problem is unchanged: public health and medical groups say the findings increase the urgency for better infection control, broader genomic surveillance, smarter antibiotic use and financial incentives to revive antibiotic and antifungal development, including proposals such as the PASTEUR Act.
- 19 pathogens tracked, with 4 urgent, 13 serious and 2 concerning threats.
- About 9.7 million infections and 50,800 deaths estimated each year in the US, based on 2023 data.
- Drug-resistant gonorrhoea alone accounted for about 787,000 infections in 2023.
- Candida auris up about tenfold since 2019; C. difficile downgraded after rates fell.
- New totals use broader data and methods, so the CDC warns against direct comparison with 2019.
Why Laboratories and Prevention Matter
The report underlines how much of the fight against resistance happens before a patient ever receives a drug: in testing, in hospitals and in everyday prescribing decisions. Faster, more accurate laboratory testing helps clinicians identify resistant infections sooner, while infection-control measures in healthcare settings — hand hygiene, isolation precautions and careful cleaning — limit how far resistant germs spread between patients.
Ordinary precautions matter too. Antibiotics do not treat viral infections such as the common cold or flu, and health agencies advise that antibiotics should only be used when prescribed, at the right dose and for the full course directed. Vaccination, hand hygiene and appropriate prescribing all help limit the spread of resistant pathogens. At the same time, medical research continues to open new treatment paths, even as the CDC report shows that new drugs alone will not solve resistance without prevention and stewardship alongside them.
The findings also arrive as questions about medicines and patient safety are drawing wider attention, including recent legal disputes over medication advice. The CDC report itself is a reminder that the medicines already available need protecting: every unnecessary antibiotic course gives resistant germs another chance to survive and spread.
What to Watch Next
What happens next will be measured in the CDC’s future surveillance: whether Candida auris and carbapenem-resistant bacteria keep climbing, whether the progress seen with C. difficile can be repeated against the germs still rising, and whether new incentives bring fresh antibiotics and antifungals to market. The report does not promise a turnaround, and it does not claim the problem is solved. It sets out a larger, clearer count of a threat the CDC calls urgent — and a warning that the country is still far from getting drug resistance under control. This article reports the CDC’s findings and is not medical advice; anyone with concerns about an infection should speak to a clinician.