Antibiotic Resistance: New Report

The CDC’s new report details the progress and problems of antibiotic-resistant foodborne microorganisms. It shows 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. Meanwhile, Campylobacter resistance to ciprofloxacin remained at 25 percent, despite FDA’s 2005 withdrawal of its approval for the use of enrofloxacin in poultry.