• The steady rise of drug-resistant bacteria in the United States has emerged as a grave public health concern, reflecting a wider global antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis.
• Between 2019 and 2023, the country saw a nearly 70 percent increase in drug-resistant infections, with bacteria carrying the New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase (NDM) gene leading this alarming trend.
• Data from 29 U.S. states reveal 4,341 carbapenem-resistant infections in 2023, of which 1,831 cases involved NDM-positive bacteria.
• This is particularly worrying because the NDM gene allows bacteria to resist carbapenems, one of the most powerful classes of antibiotics often considered the last line of defence.
• Even more alarming is that NDM cases alone surged by 460 percent during the five-year period. Undetected carriers further compound the threat, facilitating community-level transmission.
• The mechanism behind this resistance lies in the misuse and overuse of antibiotics. Incomplete treatment courses, unnecessary prescriptions, and indiscriminate use of antibiotics in healthcare and agriculture allow resistant bacteria to survive, evolve, and spread resistance genes.
• These pathogens then multiply and pass on their resistant traits to other bacteria, making once-treatable infections increasingly untreatable.