The CDC Is Deeply Concerned About One Growing Health Threat
Health risks are some of the most troubling for survivalists.
Failing health will negate all the other work preppers have accomplished.
Now the CDC is deeply concerned about one growing health threat.
The CDC releases threat assessment reports each year that people need to be concerned about.
One of their reports deals with the growing problem of antibiotic resistance.
According to the 2019 report, over 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur in the United States each year, resulting in over 35,000 deaths.
A recent example of an antibiotic-resistant “superbug” that’s causing distress is a fungus called Candida auris.
- auris preys on people with weakened immune systems, so people in nursing homes could be in grave danger of the superbug.
The CDC says that nearly half of the people who contracted C. auris died within 90 days.
It’s also a very aggressive infection.
According to the CDC, roughly 90% of C. auris infections are resistant to at least one drug, and 30% repel two or more.
CDC investigators think the superbug might’ve originated in Asia, but multiple strains have been found around the globe.
The first C. auris case occurred in America in 2012 and there have been an alarming 587 cases since then.
The chief cause of the rise of these superbugs is overuse of antibiotics.
The CDC reports:
“Dedicated prevention and infection control efforts in the U.S. are working to reduce the number of infections and deaths caused by antibiotic-resistant germs, but the number of people facing antibiotic resistance is still too high. More action is needed to fully protect people.”
The CDC’s 2019 antibiotic-resistance threats report lists 18 different infections and groups them in three different categories: urgent, serious, and concerning.
Five bugs made the “urgent” list, one of them being C. auris.
Another germ in the urgent category was Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter, which can cause pneumonia, as well as wound, bloodstream, and urinary tract infections.
In 2017, 8,500 patients were hospitalized as a result of the bacteria and 700 died.
Clostridioides difficile (C-diffs), another bacteria, affects approximately 223,900 patients, causing roughly 12,800 deaths.
- diff causes life-threatening diarrhea and colitis (an inflammation of the colon), mainly in people who have had both recent medical care and antibiotics.
Overuse of antibiotics has become a serious problem.
These bugs and several others are only getting more aggressive as a result.
Many people hold onto extra antibiotics and use them whenever they get a common cold.
This is a huge mistake.
There’s a reason doctors tell patients to use all the antibiotics prescribed.
Stopping use once you feel “better” can cause the illness to recur, and antibiotics shouldn’t be used to beat back runny noses and coughs.
The CDC report showed that there are real-life consequences to these decisions.
Don’t use antibiotics unless necessary.
Otherwise, you’re only contributing to a problem that’s beginning to affect more and more people.
