My story was one of the first in-depth looks at a Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC) outbreak at NIH’s hospital in Bethesda during 2011. Eighteen patients were infected by this antibiotic resistant bacteria and twelve died. This is the story of two NIH staff, an epidemiologist and a genome investigator as they tracked the path of the infection through patients. What they learned was chilling. The bacteria could spread through patients that weren’t showing symptoms, making it hard to stop, even as the hospital tried everything that is known to stop an epidemic. The story highlights how close we are to the age where antibiotics no longer work and how imperative it is that public health officials do something about it. It also demonstrates that pharmaceutical companies too need to keep investing in new antibiotics for the greater public good.
