Meet The 12 Most Dangerous Bacteria In The World

The UN’s health agency released a list of the top 12 most dangerous bacteria in the world – because they are resistant to all the antibiotics we have to treat them. The World Health Organization is hoping pharmaceutical companies and governments will concentrate on developing new drugs to treat people who become infected.

The killer superbug list has 3 tiers – critical, high, and medium priority. The critical tier consists of bacteria that are still fairly rare but are resistant to all or nearly all known antibiotics. The 2nd and 3rd priority tier bacteria are resistant to some, but not all, antibiotics.  

At the top of the critical category are Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which can cause deadly blood infections and pneumonia, most commonly in hospital patients.

So without further ado…

Here are the 12 most dangerous bacteria in the world:

The CRITICAL tier

1. Acinetobacter baumannii, carbapenem-resistant
2. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, carbapenem-resistant
3. Enterobacteriaceae, carbapenem-resistant, ESBL-producing

The HIGH priority tier

1. Enterococcus faecium, vancomycin-resistant
2. Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant, vancomycin-intermediate and resistant
3. Helicobacter pylori, clarithromycin-resistant

4. Campylobacter spp., fluoroquinolone-resistant
5. Salmonellae, fluoroquinolone-resistant
6. Neisseria gonorrhoeae, cephalosporin-resistant, fluoroquinolone-resistant

The MEDIUM priority tier

1. Streptococcus pneumoniae, penicillin-non-susceptible
2. Haemophilus influenzae, ampicillin-resistant
3. Shigella spp., fluoroquinolone-resistant

So there you have it the 12 most dangerous bacteria in the world.