Approximately 1.2 million people in the U.S. contract nontyphoidal Salmonella every year. The infections result in 23,000 hospitalizations and 450 deaths annually. Among the infections, more than 6,000 are caused by bacteria resistant to at least one of the three antibiotics sometimes used to treat the condition, according to new CDC research.
The CDC has deemed the rising rates of antibiotic-resistant Salmonella to be a serious public health threat. To estimate the occurrence of such infections, researchers with the agency used Bayesian hierarchical statistical modeling to establish infection occurrence rates based on data collected by the agency on antibiotic-resistant infections from 2004 to 2012.
The analysis revealed the overall incidence of Salmonella infections resistant only to ampicillin to be 1.07 per 100,000 people over the years of the study period, 0.51 per 100,000 people for ceftriaxone and ampicillin resistance and 0.35 per 100,000 people for ciprofloxacin resistance. The rates collectively amounted to approximately 6,200 resistant culture-confirmed Salmonella infections every year.
"National incidence estimates of resistant Salmonella infections are needed to track progress to support the U.S. president's executive order to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria," wrote the study's authors. "Such estimates help define the magnitude of the resistance problem, target prevention efforts and assess whether control measures are working. Further development of these methods can be used to assess progress from control measures."
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