CDC: More people dying from antibiotic resistance than previously believed

More than 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur in the U.S. every year and more than 35,000 people die as a result of those infections, according to a newly-released Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.

The updated Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States (AR Threats Report) also estimates when antibiotic-resistant bacterium Clostridium difficile (or C. diff) is included, that number exceeds 3 million infections and 48,000 deaths. The report, which used data sources such as electronic health records not previously available, shows that there were nearly twice as many annual deaths from antibiotic-resistant infections as CDC originally reported in 2013.