Antibiotic-resistant superbug infections hit all-time high in the US as illnesses surge by 50% since 2013 – but efforts to stem over-prescribing have driven the death toll down by 18%

More Americans are being infected by antibiotic-resistant superbugs than ever before, a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals.

Bacteria and fungi that don’t respond to standard antibiotics cause 2.8 million infections and 35,000 deaths in the US every year, according to the figures, released on Wednesday.

When this includes C. difficile, a bacterium not typically resistant but that can cause life-threatening diarrhea, there are more than three million infections and 48,000 deaths.

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