Drug-resistant bacteria and fungi, often called superbugs, now cause an estimated 9.7 million infections and 50,800 deaths in the United States each year, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The agency released its 2026 Antimicrobial Resistance Threats Report on October 27, using data from 2023. It is the most complete update since the CDC published its previous full report in 2019.
The CDC has tracked superbugs since its first threats report in 2013, and the 2019 edition covered 18 germs classed as urgent or serious. The new report widens that net, drawing on more surveillance sources and updated methods. That wider net is one reason the totals look far larger than the 2019 figures, and the CDC said the two sets of numbers should not be read as a straight comparison.
Four superbugs classed as urgent threats
The report sorts 19 superbugs into four urgent threats, 13 serious threats and two concerning threats, with six more germs on a watch list. The four urgent threats are Candida auris, carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales and drug-resistant gonorrhea. Carbapenems are antibiotics often used as a last line of treatment, so resistance to them leaves doctors with few options.
The CDC also added drug-resistant Neisseria meningitidis, the bacterium that causes meningococcal disease, as a serious threat. The agency ranks superbugs by their effects, how fast they spread, whether they can be prevented and whether treatments exist.
Candida auris infections climb sharply
Candida auris, a fungus since renamed Candidozyma auris, remains on the urgent list and is moving in the wrong direction. The CDC recorded 4,523 cases in the United States in 2023, a rise of more than 50 percent from 2022. Infections caused by the fungus have risen tenfold since 2019, and some strains resist nearly every antifungal drug now available.
The fungus spreads in hospitals and nursing homes through contaminated surfaces and equipment such as catheters, and it can live on skin without causing symptoms. That silent spread makes superbugs hard to contain once they enter a care facility. People who are already seriously ill face the highest risk of severe bloodstream infections.
Resistance genes are also moving between superbugs. The report points to genes that block carbapenem antibiotics, including the New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase gene found in carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales. A separate CDC study from 2025 found infections with that type of bacteria rose by more than 460 percent between 2019 and 2023.
C. difficile drops off the urgent superbugs list
The CDC said stronger prevention in hospitals, more careful antibiotic use and new treatments are needed to slow superbugs. Medical groups have also called for financial incentives to revive antibiotic and antifungal development, including the PASTEUR Act, a bill that would pay drug makers for new antibiotics rather than for sales volume. Health care settings remain the front line in the fight against superbugs, since that is where the largest share of deaths occurs. C. difficile remains the report’s clearest improvement, with rates down since 2018 and stable since 2020.