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Superbugs Deadlier Than Cancer Put Chemotherapy Into Question

In India, patients and their families face a heart-wrenching choice: forgo lifesaving treatment or run the risk of a killer infection.

A 3D model of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae.

Photo: Science Source

Doctors in India are sounding the alarm over a threat to cancer patients that’s proving deadlier than tumors: untreatable infections from superbugs impervious to existing medications.

Patients undergoing chemotherapy in the country are at the front line of the worldwide spread of bacteria that the most potent antibiotics can’t fight. Bloodstream infections caused by these superbugs have become the leading cause of illness and death in leukemia patients, doctors from India’s top-ranked medical college reported last year.