The Fight Against ‘Superbugs’

A Bass Connections team tackles the spread of these pathogens

person looking at microbes in a lab dish

The following is a summary of a story by Sarah Grace Engel Thompson on Bass Connections.

“Superbugs” might sound like something out of a comic book, but these pathogens aren’t insects. The term refers to dangerous strains of microbes that are resistant to multiple antibiotics.

This problem is known as antimicrobial resistance (AMR). It claims more than a million lives worldwide each year, and the magnitude and severity of its impacts are only growing.

The climate is an important factor in the spread of AMR. Rising temperatures are speeding up both the spread of a pathogen and the evolution of its DNA. Other factors, such as severe flooding that causes sanitation systems to break down, and climate-driven migration, also make the problem worse.

Despite growing evidence, the link between the spread of AMR and rising temperatures is still not taken into account by most national and global action plans for tackling the AMR health crisis. 

The joint Duke-DKU Bass Connections team Antimicrobial Resistance in a Changing Climate: One Health Policy Framework stepped in to bridge the gap between the science on AMR and real-world policy.

The team has already had an impact.

When the World Health Organization released a draft of its updated Global Action Plan on AMR in 2025, it failed to provide policy recommendations addressing the role of climate change. The Bass Connections team wrote a comment article pointing out this oversight; it was published in “The Lancet Planetary Health.”

The team was also invited to present policy recommendations in a webinar for the AMR Multi-Stakeholder Partnership Platform, facilitated by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations Environment Program, World Health Organization and World Organization for Animal Health.

In 2026-2027, the Duke-DKU team will continue its data-driven work across global teams in China, Sri Lanka and the United States to develop policy recommendations addressing the AMR health crisis.

“Don’t be afraid to try something that you never imagined before,” reflects DKU team member Xiaohang Lyu.

For more information, go to Bass Connections.