U.S. health officials recently reported that drug-resistant infections increased during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.The report came from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).It said there was an increase in hospital infections and deaths in 2020.Dr. Arjun Srinivasan, a CDC expert, called it “a startling reversal” that he hopes was a one-year happening.CDC officials think there were several reasons for the rise.One was how COVID-19 was treated when it first appeared in the United States in early 2020.Antimicrobial drug resistance happens when organisms like bacteria and fungi gain the ability to resist the drugs that were designed to kill them.The misuse of antibiotics was a big reason for the increase, officials said.Unfinished or unnecessary prescriptions that did not kill the microorganisms made them stronger.Before the pandemic, health officials said U.S. drug-resistant infections appeared to be going down.
