Superbugs & You

Antimicrobials are the cornerstone of modern medicine, and this is especially true for patients with cystic fibrosis. People with CF rely on antibiotics for recurring and persistent infections, and with regular use, antibiotics become less and less effective in fighting these infections. Guests include Ella Balasa, (Patient Advocate), Helen Boucher, MD (Tufts Medicine), and Mary Booth Dwight (Cystic Fibrosis Foundation).

Season 4 of Superbugs and You is here!

Episode 14: This year, Italy leads the Presidency of the G7. The group is united by common values in addressing global challenges, including antimicrobial resistance. This episode features Italian leaders driving transformational policy to battle AMR. Guests include Francesca Chiara, (CIDRAP ASP), Mariano Votta (Active Citizenship Network-Cittadinanzattiva), Damiano De Felice (CARB-X), and Massimo Sartelli (Global Alliance for Infections in Surgery).

Health officials around the world are sounding the alarm on a highly infectious bacteria causing extensively drug-resistant infections. Shigella, which causes the infection known as shigellosis, is a genus of bacteria that results in gastrointestinal distress that ranges from uncomfortable to deadly, in adults and children. Global surveillance efforts on Shigella have identified outbreaks of strains that are extensively drug-resistant across the UK, US, and parts of Europe. How is the world dealing with this new superbug?

Guests

Lou Bourgeois, PhD: Johns Hopkins, Science Officer for Enteric and Diarrheal Diseases, PATH

Gauri Godbole, MBBS, MD: UKHSA, Consultant Microbiologist and Parasitologist, Hospital for Tropical Diseases, University College London Hospitals, NHS

Naemah Logan, MD: Medical Officer, Surveillance Epidemiologist, National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System for Enteric Bacteria (NARMS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Louise Francois Watkins, MD: Medical Officer, NARMS, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: CDC

Over the past decade, several strains (types) of Salmonella typhi have become resistant to multiple antibiotics. Resistant strains have been identified across the globe. However, the 2018 launch of a vaccine has slowed infections. It is estimated that TCV introduction with a catch-up campaign will avert 42.5 million cases and 506,000 deaths caused by fluoroquinolone-resistant typhoid fever, and 21.2 million cases and 342,000 deaths from multidrug-resistant typhoid fever over 10 years following introduction. This episode will cover the impact of vaccinations and the challenges to deploy effective programs. 

Guests:

Farah Naz Qamar - Pediatric Infectious Disease Associate Professor, The Aga Khan University, Pakistan
Kathy Neuzil - Director of the Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine
Denise Garrett - Vice President, Applied Epidemiology, Sabin Vaccine Institute
Calman MacLennan - Senior Program Officer, Bacterial Vaccines, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

For more information on the impact of typhoid conjugate vaccines and AMR, check out CIDRAP-ASP's report, A Vaccine Is a Bridge: The New Era of Typhoid Prevention.

Despite great improvements in mortality for children under 5, sepsis remains a leading cause of death in young children. The highest incidence and mortality were seen in newborns, with the biggest impact seen in low- and middle-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. This episode will highlight how the availability of guidelines, diagnostics, and therapeutics can make a difference in the smallest of patients. Content warning: this episode contains discussions of infant loss.

Guests:

Kamala Thiagarajan - Freelance journalist, Global health and environmental sciences
Seamus O’Brien - Director of Research and Development, Global Antibiotic Research and Development Program
Phoebe Williams - Pediatrician, Infectious Disease Physician, Faculty of Medicine,  University of Sydney

Materials Mentioned in this Episode

Neonatal sepsis: the new threat posed by superbugs, Kamala Thiagarajan, BBC
Antibiotics needed to treat multidrug-resistant infections in neonates, Phoebe Williams, …, Seamus O’Brien et al., Bulletin of the World Health Organization

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.