‘Nightmare Bacteria,’ Superbugs On The Rise In California

Infection rates from drug-resistant “nightmare bacteria” have spiked across the United States and in California at the same time a fungal superbug is spreading in the Golden State, according to a new report from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientists and state health officials.

Case of “nightmare bacteria” rose almost 70% in five years the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. In California, state health officials have already reported hundreds of cases between January and July, according to preliminary data provide to Patch by the California Department of Public Health. Just a few years prior, the bacteria was considered rare in the state.

Double Whammy

The alarming rise in anti-biotic resistant bacteria is happening at the same time the state is battling the spread of another drug-resistent superbug. C. auris is a deadly species of fungus that does not respond to common antifungal treatments, according to the California Department of Public Health. The deadly fungus has been rampant in the Southern part of the state.

California saw 11,711 cases of harmful superbug fungus from September 2022 to May 2025, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Several California counties have reported thousands of cases of candida auris, a species of fungus that does not respond to common antifungal treatments and can be deadly, according to the California Department of Public Health. From January 2017 to May 2025, Los Angeles County saw 5,745 cases of Candida auris, Orange County saw 3,575, and San Bernardino County saw 1,254 cases.

‘Nightmare Bacteria’

While C. auris represents a fungal threat, a new CDC report published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine draws attention to a different kind of superbug: carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, is a family of bacteria that are resistant to many common antibiotics.

Nationwide, they increased 70% between 2019 and 2023, according to a new report from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientists.

In California, there were 632 cases of CPOs with an NDM gene reported to CDPH in 2024, and 317 cases reported in 2025 from January through July, the most available data. The year before, the state record 632 cases.

The bacteria can also cause infections in patients with existing serious medical problems, or who are undergoing operations or other invasive procedures, according to UCLA hospital officials. In 2015, more than 100 patients at UCLA Medical Center were exposed to the superbug, which may have been responsible for two deaths.

Bacteria that are difficult to treat due to the so-called NDM gene primarily drove the increase, CDC researchers said. Only two antibiotics work against those infections, and the drugs are expensive and must be administered through an IV, researchers said.

Bacteria with the gene were once considered exotic, linked to a small number of patients who received medical care overseas. Though the numbers are still small, the rate of U.S. cases jumped more than fivefold in recent years, the researchers reported.

“The rise of NDMs in the U.S. is a grave danger and very worrisome,” said David Weiss, an Emory University infectious diseases researcher, in an email.

It’s likely many people are unrecognized carriers of the drug-resistant bacteria, which could lead to community spread, the CDC scientists said.

That may play out in doctors’ offices across the country, as infections long considered routine — like urinary tract infections — could become harder to treat, said Dr. Maroya Walters, one of the report’s authors.

Antimicrobial resistance occurs when germs such as bacteria and fungi gain the power to fight off the drugs designed to kill them. The misuse of antibiotics was a big reason for the rise — unfinished or unnecessary prescriptions that didn’t kill the germs made them stronger.

In recent years, the CDC has drawn attention to “ nightmare bacteria ” resistant to a wide range of antibiotics. That includes carbapenems, a class of antibiotics considered a last resort for treatment of serious infections.

They counted 4,341 cases of carbapenem-resistant bacterial infections from those states in 2023, with 1,831 of them the NDM variety. The researchers did not say how many of the infected people died.

The rate of carbapenem-resistant infections rose from just under 2 per 100,000 people in 2019 to more than 3 per 100,000 in 2023 — an increase of 69%. But the rate of NDM cases rose from around 0.25 to about 1.35 — an increase of 460%, the authors said.

A researcher not involved in the study said the increase is probably related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We know that there was a huge surge in antibiotic use during the pandemic, so this likely is reflected in increasing drug resistance,” said Dr. Jason Burnham, a Washington University researcher, in an email.

The CDC’s count is only a partial picture.

Many states are not fully testing and reporting cases. Even in states that do, cases tend to be among hospital patients sick enough to warrant special testing. Many hospitals also aren’t able to do the testing needed to detect certain forms of genetic resistance.

The CDC researchers did not have data from some of the most populous states, including California, Florida, New York and Texas, which means the absolute number of U.S. infections “is definitely underestimated,” Burnham said.

This is not the first study to report a rise. A CDC report published in June noted an increase in NDM cases in New York City between 2019 and 2024.

— The Asssociated Press contributed to this report.