The Superbugs Are Already Here

MRSA was once rare. Now it kills over 10,000 Americans per year. But MRSA is just one of several superbugs that have emerged recently. CRE resists almost every available antibiotic and kills up to 50% of patients with bloodstream infections.

The CDC took CRE so seriously that it classified the bacteria as an urgent threat in 2013, calling them "nightmare bacteria." The name fits: even doctors' last-resort drugs often fail against them.