In a recently issued report, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated the national burden of illnesses and deaths caused by the most common and most worrisome antibiotic-resistant pathogens.1 The report focused on 16 antimicrobial-resistant bacterial pathogens, as well as Candida infections, which together account for more than 2 million illnesses and at least 23,000 deaths every year in the United States.1 The report also included information on Clostridium difficile infections, which, like antibiotic resistance, are driven by antibiotic use. C. difficile causes more than 250,000 clinical infections annually and is associated with more than 14,000 deaths every year in the United States.1 | In this report, the CDC categorized 18 pathogens (eTable A) into three groups (urgent, serious, and concerning) based on seven criteria: clinical impact, economic impact, incidence, 10-year projection of incidence, transmissibility, availability of effective antibiotics, and barriers to prevention.1 Three types of bacteria were included in the urgent category: carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, drug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and C. difficile. In the past, drug-resistant strains of Enterobacteriaceae and N. gonorrhoeae have shown a propensity to spread rapidly in the United States and around the world. Some strains of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae are currently untreatable with available antibiotics, and the cephalosporin agents to which some gonococci are now showing emerging resistance are the last available drugs to effectively treat this infection. Thus, further spread of these strains constitutes a public health crisis. C. difficile infections already cause significant morbidity and mortality, and a recently emerging epidemic strain, BI/NAP1/027, appears to be more virulent.