Antimicrobial resistance: Patient stories
Many patients and their families have suffered the debilitating effects of antimicrobial-resistant infections. Many have even lost their lives due to these infections. Their compelling and heart-wrenching stories highlight the urgent need to address drug-resistant infections and the lack of new antimicrobial development. If you would like to share your story, please contact us.
George Semakula
After six surgeries and four months of treatment with an experimental antibiotic for an agressive and highly drug-resistant infection in his leg that put his life at risk, George Semakula learned to walk again. Read his story.
The faces of antimicrobial resistance
-
Braxe R.
A seemingly harmless ear infection turns into a life-threatening MRSA scare for a 2 ½-year-old boy.
-
Peggy Lillis
A mom from Brooklyn dies from complications of a condition brought on by antibiotic use.
-
Timothy Mok
A University of Kentucky pharmacy resident falls sick from E. coli while at his residency rotation in Maryland.
-
Marcus Glover
A healthy man is infected with a disruptive digestive bacterium during shoulder surgery.
-
Meredith Littlejohn
A 19-year-old college hopeful and cancer survivor dies from an antibiotic-resistant infection.
-
Tatiana Chiprez Vargas
Just weeks after her wedding, Tatiana Chiprez Vargas began feeling ill and was admitted to the hospital. The doctors then found out she had contracted MRSA.
-
Brianna Strand
A woman from Washington with cystic fibrosis suffers years of worsening symptoms stemming from a skin infection.
-
Catherine Duff
An Indiana woman undergoes fecal microbiota transplant to cure her recurring Clostridium difficile infections, saving her life.
-
Simon Sparrow
In less than 24 hours, 15-month-old Simon passed away from an undiagnosed MRSA infection.
-
Tenzin Lobsang Kunor
A college student from Wisconsin is diagnosed with tuberculosis and forced into isolation from his family and friends.
-
Roger Poser
A man from Texas undergoes combination antibiotic therapy to combat an extremely antibiotic-resistant strain of Pseudomonas.
-
Addie Rerecich
A healthy 11-year-old girl from Tucson, Arizona, spends months in the hospital fighting several infections and needs a lung transplant to save her life.
-
David Ricci
A 19-year-old from the Seattle area battles several NDM-1 positive antibiotic-resistant infections as he recovers from a train accident that cost him his right leg.
-
Josh Nahum
A 27-year-old skydiving instructor in Colorado dies from an antibiotic-resistant Enterobacter aerogenes infection.
-
Carlos Don
A healthy 12-year-old athlete from Southern California dies of pneumonia caused by a MRSA infection.
-
Brock Wade
An active, sports-driven 9-year-old boy survives a terrifying invasive infection and pneumonia caused by MRSA.
-
Tom Dukes
The life of a healthy and active father in Southern California is torn apart by a painful and drug-resistant E. coli infection.
-
Rebecca Lohsen
A family loses their precious daughter to MRSA.
-
Joan Corboy
An Illinois woman nearly dies while struggling with a recurrent and drug-resistant C. difficile infection.
-
Dee Dee Wallace
A Wisconsin woman nearly loses her leg and her life to MRSA.
-
Ricky Lannetti
A healthy 21-year-old football player at Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, contracts MRSA and does not survive the infection.
-
Nicholas Johnson
A healthy 12-year-old from Texas nearly dies from a MRSA infection.
-
Caroline Moore
After summiting North America’s highest point, Caroline Moore contracts a staph infection during surgery.
-
Kenna Van Kirk
A MRSA infection attacks a 9-year-old’s leg, lungs and heart.
-
George Semakula
An experimental antibiotic saves a man’s leg and his life following an aggressive drug-resistant infection.