CDC’s ‘most wanted’ list of killer microbes

January 12th, 2015

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has singled out 18 particularly bad bugs in a new report that includes an electron microscopy mug shot and a threat ranking of urgent, serious or concerning.

The threat rankings are a new approach, and help prioritize a problem that has become a public health call to action. The CDC threat rankings were based on seven factors associated with resistant infections: clinical impact, economic impact incidence, a 10-year projection of incidence, transmissibility, availability of effective antibiotics and barriers to prevention, the report states.¹

The list of drug resistant organisms in the three categories are as follows:

Urgent Threats:

• Clostridium difficile
• Carbapenem resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE)
• Drug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Serious Threats

• Multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter
• Drug-resistant Campylobacter
• Fluconazole-resistant Candida
• Extended spectrum β-lactamase producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBLs)
• Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE)
• Multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa
• Drug-resistant Non-typhoidal Salmonella
• Drug-resistant Salmonella Typhi
• Drug-resistant Shigella
• Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
• Drug-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae
• Drug-resistant tuberculosis

Concerning Threats

• Vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA)
• Erythromycin-resistant Group A Streptococcus
• Clindamycin-resistant Group B Streptococcus