Press Release

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Contact: CDC Media Relations
(404) 639-3286

Antibiotic resistance in foodborne germs is an ongoing threat

CDC report shows progress and problems among foodborne germs it tracks

Antibiotic resistance in foodborne germs, an ongoing public health threat, showed both positive and troubling trends, according to data tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2012. Each year, antibiotic-resistant infections from foodborne germs cause an estimated 430,000 illnesses in the United States. Multi-drug resistant Salmonella, from food and other sources, causes about 100,000 illnesses in the United States each year.

The most recent data showed that multi-drug resistant Salmonella decreased during the past 10 years and resistance to two important groups of drugs – cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones – remained low in 2012. However, in Salmonella typhi, the germ that causes typhoid fever, resistance to quinolone drugs increased to 68 percent in 2012, raising concerns that one of the common treatments for typhoid fever may not work in many cases.