"In April 2025, less than three months after Donald Trump returned to the White House, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) put out its latest public health alert on so-called superbugs, strains of bacteria resistant to antibiotics. These drug-resistant germs, the CDC warned, are responsible for more than 3m infections in the US each year, claiming the lives of up to 48,000 Americans."
"We're in a war against bacteria, said Ian Morgan, a postdoctoral fellow at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), the world's largest funder of biomedical research. He is on the frontlines of that war against superbugs; the NIH lab in which he works is driving what he described as high-risk, high-reward research. But over the past year, the battlefield has toughened. Under the Trump administration, Morgan, 33, and thousands of other young American scientists like him have grappled with wave after wave of disruptions."
"Billions of dollars have been wiped from research budgets, almost 8,000 grants have been cancelled at NIH and the US National Science Foundation alone, and more than 1,000 NIH employees have been fired. Morgan's research has been rattled by multibillion-dollar cuts in NIH contracts that make it impossible for labs to maintain their equipment. They have the choice of paying exorbitant maintenance fees, or giving up on experiments."
In April 2025 the CDC issued an alert that antibiotic-resistant superbugs cause more than 3 million US infections annually and kill up to 48,000 Americans, contributing to almost 5 million global deaths each year. Health experts warn these pathogens could become a leading killer by 2050. NIH postdoctoral fellow Ian Morgan conducts high-risk, high-reward research against superbugs but faces severe disruptions. Billions have been cut from research budgets, nearly 8,000 grants at NIH and NSF were cancelled, and over 1,000 NIH employees were fired. Multibillion-dollar contract cuts prevent labs from maintaining equipment and a hiring freeze limits early-career scientists' prospects.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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