CDC Names The 4 Most Dangerous Superbugs In The U.S.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 28, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Superbugs cause an estimated 9.7 million infections and 50,800 deaths in the United States each year.

Those figures come from a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that names 19 drug-resistant germs as threats, The Washington Post reports.

Superbugs are bacteria and fungi that have learned to survive the drugs designed to kill them. Their infections can be tough, and sometimes impossible, to treat, the CDC says.

The new totals are higher than in the CDC’s 2019 superbug report, although the agency says some of the change reflects new measurement methods.

Germs picked up in hospitals and other medical settings cause more than 42,000 yearly deaths and add nearly $12 billion in healthcare costs.

“Antimicrobial resistance threatens modern medicine and puts millions of Americans at risk every year,” CDC Director Dr. Erica Schwartz said in a statement.

The CDC ranks four germs as urgent threats, its most dangerous category:

• Candida auris, a fungus that spreads in hospitals and nursing homes and resists most antifungal drugs (cases soared from 48 in 2016 to 6,304 in 2024)

• Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter, bacteria that cause pneumonia and wound, blood and urinary tract infections, often in intensive care patients

• Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE), bacteria that can pass their drug resistance to other germs

• Drug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae, which causes gonorrhea and now resists nearly every antibiotic

Carbapenems are powerful antibiotics that doctors often save for when nothing else works.

Another 13 germs pose serious threats, two are concerning and six more are on a watch list.

Dr. Helen Chu, an infectious disease physician at the University of Washington in Seattle, has seen more severe infections among her hospitalized patients, including gonorrhea and necrotizing fasciitis, a tissue-destroying infection.

“We saw an uptick of these cases in the last few years, the ‘flesh-eating bacteria’ that we worry about,” Chu told The Post.

The report contained one bit of good news: Clostridiodes difficile, or C. diff bacteria, was listed as an "urgent" threat in 2019 but has been dropped to "serious." The CDC says better diagnosis and more successful infection-preventions in hospitals and other healthcare settings are behind the improvement.

But the superbug threat remains dire. These germs can put routine care — such as chemotherapy, organ transplants and joint replacements — at risk because protocols rely on antibiotics, Dr. Wendy Armstrong, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, told The Post.

Each time antibiotics are used, germs get another chance to adapt. That’s why the CDC urges people to take them only when they’re truly needed.

Antibiotics work only on bacteria. They won’t help colds or flu, which are caused by viruses.

Taking the wrong drug or dose, or taking it for the wrong length of time, can also fuel resistance. 

The CDC advises against pressuring a doctor for an antibiotic or saving leftover pills for later.

More information

Visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more information about preventing antimicrobial resistance.

SOURCES: The Washington Post, Oct. 27, 2026; U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, April 22, 2024