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The CDC’s updated 2026 Antimicrobial Resistance Threats Report lists 19 pathogens, including four drug-resistant threats in its top urgent category. Together, the listed pathogens are estimated to cause 9.7 million infections and 50,800 deaths in the United States each year. The report also moves C. difficile to the serious category and adds six pathogens to a watch list.
The CDC’s updated 2026 antimicrobial-resistance report lists 19 pathogens across threat levels ranging from concerning to urgent and estimates they cause 9.7 million infections and 50,800 deaths annually. Four drug-resistant pathogens are rated “urgent,” the agency’s top threat category, while six others are placed on a watch list.
The four urgent threats are Candida auris (also called Candidozyma auris), carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales and drug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae. The CDC’s report groups the 19 pathogens across “concerning,” “serious” and “urgent” levels, reflecting differing assessments of their public-health threat.
The report gives examples of the burden from individual pathogens in 2023. Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter was associated with 9,497 hospitalizations and an estimated 817 deaths; carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales with 14,878 hospitalizations and an estimated 1,252 deaths. The report says drug-resistant N. gonorrhoeae caused an estimated 787,000 U.S. infections that year. These pathogen-specific figures refer to 2023, while the combined estimate of 9.7 million infections and 50,800 deaths is an annual total across the report’s listed pathogens.
The CDC also made category changes. Clostridioides difficile moved from urgent to serious, a change the report links in part to infection-prevention measures that have reduced cases since 2011. Drug-resistant N. meningitidis was designated a serious threat, while drug-resistant dermatophytes, drug-resistant Haemophilus influenzae and nontuberculous mycobacteria joined the watch list, along with other potential threats.
The Cost of Resistant Infections
Antimicrobial resistance can leave clinicians with fewer effective treatment choices when infections occur. The CDC estimates that the listed pathogens cause 9.7 million infections and 50,800 deaths annually. The report identifies four pathogens as urgent threats and says they demand aggressive action.
Wendy Armstrong, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said resistant infections can prolong hospital stays and increase health-care costs. She also warned that they can make some care, including cancer chemotherapy, organ transplants and surgery, harder or sometimes impossible to provide safely. Those are Armstrong’s comments on the implications of the report; they are not a separate CDC estimate.
The report assigns C. difficile to the serious category, down from urgent, and designates drug-resistant N. meningitidis a serious threat. It also adds several pathogens to the watch list, which the report describes as including potential threats with uncertain disease burdens.
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How the CDC Ranked Pathogens
The 2026 publication is an update to the CDC’s Antimicrobial Resistance Threats Report. It lists pathogens across urgent, serious and concerning threat levels, with a separate watch list for organisms that may pose a future risk.
The CDC report says Candida auris can cause severe infections, particularly in people with underlying medical conditions. It reports U.S. cases rising from 48 in 2016 to 4,523 in 2023. The report identifies carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter as a particular menace in hospitals and nursing homes, where it can spread through contaminated surfaces and equipment. It says most of its 2023 cases began outside hospitals.
Drug resistance complicates treatment of gonorrhea. The source report says the FDA approved gepotidacin and zoliflodacin last year as new antibiotics for gonorrhea, describing them as the first new antibiotics for the infection in decades. The CDC report’s 2023 data found that 55.4% of gonorrhea cases were resistant to at least one of six antibiotics or showed elevated minimum inhibitory concentrations.
“These numbers are alarming by any measure, but they are particularly sobering when infectious diseases physicians connect real patients with these statistics in their everyday experience.”
— Wendy Armstrong, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America
Limits of the Report’s Estimates
The CDC describes the combined annual total as an estimate of 9.7 million infections and 50,800 deaths across the listed pathogens. The report also gives some pathogen-specific figures for 2023, including hospitalization, death and infection estimates for particular organisms.
The report’s combined figures cover the listed pathogens, while the article also includes selected pathogen-specific statistics. The report places certain organisms on a watch list and describes them as potential threats with uncertain disease burdens.
Policy and Surveillance Ahead
Armstrong called for Congress to pass the PASTEUR Act, which would establish a federal program to support development of antimicrobial drugs targeting the most threatening pathogens and infections. According to the source report, versions of the bill remain stalled in congressional committees; no passage date or next legislative action was specified.
Public-health agencies and health-care providers will continue to track resistant infections and apply prevention measures. The CDC’s updated categories provide a current framework for that work, but the supplied material does not announce a new response deadline or a specific follow-up report date. Further developments include any movement on the legislation and new surveillance data that could alter estimates or threat classifications.
Key Questions
What does the CDC estimate these pathogens cause each year?
The CDC estimates that the 19 pathogens in the report cause 9.7 million infections and 50,800 deaths annually in the United States. These are combined estimates, not counts for one pathogen alone.
Which pathogens are in the urgent category?
The four urgent drug-resistant threats named in the report are Candida auris, carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales and drug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae.
Why did C. difficile move to the serious category?
The report attributes the move in part to infection-prevention measures and a decline in cases since 2011. The change in category does not mean C. difficile is no longer a public-health concern.
What does the CDC watch list mean?
The watch list includes pathogens the CDC considers potential threats. Their disease burden may be uncertain, and the list does not by itself mean they are established urgent or serious threats.
What happens with the PASTEUR Act?
The Infectious Diseases Society of America’s president urged Congress to pass the bill, which would create a federal program to support antimicrobial drug development. The source report says versions of the PASTEUR Act remain stalled in congressional committees.
Source: medpagetoday.com
