Public Radio East serves Eastern North Carolina by providing news, fine arts, and informational programming that challenges, stimulates, educates, and entertains an intellectually curious audience.

© 2026 Public Radio East

Public Radio East
800 College Court
New Bern, NC 28562

EIN 56-1802728
Public Radio For Eastern North Carolina 89.3 WTEB New Bern 88.5 WZNB New Bern 91.5 WBJD Atlantic Beach 90.3 WKNS Kinston 89.9 W210CF Greenville
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
US

Investigation Claims U.S. Not Tracking 'Superbug' Outbreak

A new investigation by Reuters concludes that the United States is doing a bad job of tracking the number of deaths related to one of the greatest public health threats in the last 15 years: drug-resistant infections, or “superbugs.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 23,000 people die of these infections every year, but it also uses the phrase “ballpark figure” to describe that data.

Here & Now‘s Robin Young talks with two of the writers on the project: freelance reporter Deb Nelson and Reuters data journalist Ryan McNeill.

Guests

Deb Nelson, associate professor of journalism at the University of Maryland and a freelance reporter for Reuters. She tweets @Newshawks.

Ryan McNeill, data journalist for Reuters. He tweets @McNeill_Tweets.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

US