New Drug-Resistant Superbug Appears In Massachusetts

05:24

September 17, 2010

Clostridium difficile causes severe diarrhea and can frequently return, even when treated with antibiotics. (Janice Carr/CDC Public Health Image Library)

Three patients in the U.S. have fallen ill thanks to a new superbug that, reportedly, traveled here from India. One of the patients was treated at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. We ask Dr. Stuart Levy, director of the Center for Adaptation Genetics and Drug Resistance at Tufts University School of Medicine, why we are seeing a growing number of antibiotic-resistant infections and whether the spread of these superbugs can be stopped.

Guest:

Dr. Stuart Levy, director, Center for Adaptation Genetics and Drug Resistance at Tufts University School of Medicine

This program aired on September 17, 2010.