When Bad Bugs Collide: An interview with "Scary Disease Girl"

Superbugs Unplugged

Author, journalist, and hard hitting disease detective Maryn McKenna has been reporting on bad bugs since long before it was cool. In this episode, Maryn joins Lance and Matt to explore intersections of viral, bacterial, and fungal infections in the era of COVID-19.

Even in the midst of a pandemic, the U.S. livestock and agriculture industry continues to overuse antibiotics critical to human health. If we don’t course correct soon, we run the risk of losing these drugs for good.

Maryn offers her take on antibiotic resistance and walks us through her career reporting on every aspect of the issue from factory farming to stubborn pharmaceutical marketplaces. She has been an influential voice on the topic for years, having authored two books on the subject Superbug: The Fatal Menace of MRSA and Big Chicken: The Incredible Story of How Antibiotics Created Modern Agriculture and Changed the Way the World Eats.