Neil S. Greenspan, professor of pathology, co-wrote an op-ed for the Baltimore Sun titled “The problem with the ‘superbug’ label.” Arturo Casadevall, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, was Greenspan’s co-author.
The piece delineates the reasons why it is often misleading to refer to bacterial pathogens exhibiting resistance to multiple antibiotics as “bugs” that are “super.” Many such microbes are not more able to cause injury or death than those lacking such drug resistance, they explained. Some of these bacteria primarily affect individuals who have weakened immune systems.
Instead, they offered suggestions for more accurate phrasing.