Lab reports of critical antimicrobial resistance have more than doubled in two years, with azithromycin-non-susceptible Neisseria gonorrhoeae and linezolid-resistant enterococcus showing the sharpest increases, a new report says.

In 2024, there were 3350 reports of critical antimicrobial resistance — organisms that threaten the effectiveness of last-line agents — according to the annual Antimicrobial Use and Resistance in Human Health (AURA) report, released last week.

Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales remained the most common organism group, with 1527 reports.

But in two years, reports of linezolid-resistant enterococcus increased from 17 to 118, while reports of N. gonorrhoeae with high-level azithromycin resistance went from nine to 46, the data show.