A new study by scientists at the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), published in the Annals of Internal Medicine , has found that infections caused by drug-resistant “nightmare bacteria" have surged nearly 70 per cent between 2019 and 2023. These bacteria are resistant to carbapenems, antibiotics usually reserved as a last line of defence, making them extremely difficult and costly to treat.

Researchers noted that bacteria carrying the New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase (NDM) gene are the main driver of this surge. In 2023, 29 US states that conduct genetic testing reported more than 4,300 carbapenem-resistant cases, 1,831 of them NDM-related. That represents a more than fivefold rise in NDM-linked infections in just four years.

Public health experts say the findings are

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