Superbugs & You

Superbugs & You Season 3 is here! The latest episode on treatment-resistant neonatal sepsis highlights how the infection prevention strategies, diagnostics, and therapeutics can make a difference in the smallest of patients. Despite great improvements in mortality for children under 5, sepsis remains a leading cause of death in young children. Guests include Kamala Thiagarajan, Phoebe Williams, and Seamus O'Brien.

Around the world, the multidrug resistant and pan-resistantfungus Candida auris has caused outbreaks in healthcare systems. While it is now highlighted by CDC as an urgent threat, only six years ago there were no reports of resistant C. auris strains that were able to spread easily between patients. These infections are challenging to treat a with 5% — 10% of colonized patients going on to develop invasive infections. This episode will cover how these outbreaks have impacted patients, healthcare systems, and continued efforts to better understand and slow the impact of these infections.

Guests:

• Tom M Chiller - Chief, Mycotic Diseases Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Andrew Jacobs - Reporter, Health and Science desk, The New York Times
• Bhavarth Shukla - Associate Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Miami

Materials Mentioned in this Episode

• A Mysterious Infection, Spanning the Globe in a Climate of Secrecy, Matt Richtel and Andrew Jacobs, The New York Times
• 2022 Special Report: COVID-19 U.S. Impact on Antimicrobial Resistance, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Defined as ​an “urgent” AMR threat by the US CDC, resistant Acinetobacter baumanii cause deadly infections and are difficult to remove from the environment. Acinetobacter is resistant to many antibiotics and is a frequent cause of hospital acquired infections. In the 2022 Lancet publication on drug-resistant infections (GRAM report), it was identified as the leading pathogen causing mortality in Southeast Asia. This episode will cover how infections caused by resistant Acinetobacter impact patients and on how new treatments are making an impact.

Guests:

• Steffanie Strathdee - Associate Dean of Global Health Sciences, University of California San Diego School of Medicine; Author, The Perfect Predator
• Greg Merril - CEO, Adaptive Phage Therapeutics
• Patrick McGann - Deputy Director, Multidrug-Resistant Organism Repository and Surveillance Network (MRSN)
• Jason Bennett - Director, MRSN; Associate Professor of Medicine, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research

Join us for a sneak peak of Season 3 of Superbugs and You by listening to a portion of our interview with Dr. Tom Chiller, Chief of the Mycotic Diseases Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, discussing Candida auris.

Neisseria gonorrhoeae is the second most common bacterial sexually transmitted infection in the world, and it has become a superbug. It has developed resistance to every antibiotic currently approved for treatment, and multidrug-resistant strains have been identified globally. Hear from clinicians advocating for their patients, a global leader, and a leading expert in drug development on actions needed to combat resistant gonorrhea.

In this episode, we will explore the ways that antimicrobial resistance impacts treatment for some of the most vulnerable patients, such as those undergoing cancer treatment or receiving bone marrow transplants. A recent survey of oncologists showed that 95% of them worry about the impact of superbugs on the future of cancer treatments, and one in five patients receiving chemotherapy will have a bacterial infection. In this episode, you will hear directly from a patient who had a bacterial infection while fighting cancer, from front-line clinicians, and from a researcher driving policy at a national level.

Clostridioides difficile (also known as C. diff or CDI) can cause deadly diarrhea. It is the most common healthcare-associated infection in the United States and rates of infections are rising globally. In this episode, we hear how a young Mom was impacted by the disease, how leading healthcare organizations are driving best practice guidelines, and how the US CDC is tracking this superbug.

Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) is found in the community and in healthcare systems. According to the WHO, hospitalized patients with MRSA infections are 64% more likely to die than people with drug-sensitive infections. It can be difficult to treat. In this episode, hear from a patient who battled an infection for years, a infectious disease clinician who shares his daily challenges, and a researcher who using an unique approach to find the next antibiotic.

In this final episode of Season 1, we discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted strategies to address antimicrobial resistance. Our guests will describe the patient experience of surviving COVID, the role of antimicrobial stewardship in managing COVID patients, and how the COVID-19 pandemic potentiates AMR and emerging approaches to the surveillance, treatment and prevention of AMR.

In this episode, we discuss the global issue of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis or TB. Our guests in this episode will describe living with TB, and the experience of managing these difficult-to-treat infections. They will also examine the role that social structures, local governance, accessible and affordable treatments, and patient advocacy play in tuberculosis transmission and management.