Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
superbugslatest news & developments
Superbugs are a big public health issue. So is climate change. Put the two together and the problem becomes even bigger. (Dylan Bush)
ACINETOBACTER BAUMANNII
Video

Superbugs plus climate change equals double trouble. Here’s why

As the Earth becomes hotter, we’re seeing more floods and droughts. Flooding can make superbugs spread faster and further. And heat helps germs adapt faster

  • Ida Jooste
11 min read
Research from the University of the Witwatersrand shows that more than half of the deaths in newborns and about a third in infants were caused by just two types of bacteria. (Aditya Romansa/Unsplash)
ACINETOBACTER BAUMANNII

Two superbugs causing over half of infections that kill newborns in Soweto and outsmarting treatment

Over the past 10 years, researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand’s vaccines and infectious diseases analytics unit analysed small tissue samples of 1 586 children…

  • Linda Pretorius
  • Jacques Verryn
9 min read
Antimicrobial resistance silent pandemic that already claims more than 1.3 million lives every year. File photo
AMR

Aid cuts, including by UK, undermine progress on fight against superbugs

Antimicrobial resistance threatens global health and economic stability. Urgent investment in surveillance, innovation and stewardship is critical to containment

  • Jose L Balcazar
4 min read
The Klipspruit river polluted by sewage and mine waste in Soweto. (File photo by Delwyn Verasamy)
AGRICULTURE

Water, air and soil pollution is spawning deadly superbugs

Environmental waste, especially pharmaceuticals and toxins, needs high-level action to stop its major contribution to antimicrobial resistance

  • Inger Andersen
5 min read