HealthDay News — The CDC is warning about the ongoing public health risks associated with antibiotic resistance in foodborne pathogens, which are responsible for about 430,000 illnesses in the United States each year, and summarized trends on individual organisms in a recent press release.
Multidrug-resistant (MDR) salmonella, decreased during the past 10 years, and resistance to cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones remains low, the agency reported.
However, the rate of resistance to quinolone drugs in Salmonella typhi rose to 68% in 2012, and 50% of infections resistant to nalidixic acid were caused by Salmonella enteritidis, the most common salmonella type. MDR salmonella is responsible for about 100,000 illnesses annually.
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Additionally, about 20% of Salmonella Heidelberg infections were resistant to ceftriaxone. Campylobacter resistance to ciprofloxacin remained at 25%, despite a 2005 ban on the use of the antibiotic enrofloxacin in poultry. Shigella resistance to ciprofloxacin (2%) and azithromycin (4%) increased, but no strains were resistant to both drugs.
“Infections with antibiotic-resistant germs are often more severe. These data will help doctors prescribe treatments that work and to help CDC and our public health partners identify and stop outbreaks caused by resistant germs faster and protect people’s health,” said Robert Tauxe, MD, MPH, deputy director of CDC’s Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases.
