15 superbugs and other scary diseases
At least seven people were infected and two of them died after being exposed to an antibiotic-resistant superbug during specialized endoscopy procedures at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.
This bug, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, is also known as the "nightmare" bacteria because of its resistance to antibiotics.
UCLA is just the latest to have an outbreak of infection and the cases further highlight the challenges hospitals face with the growing risk of drug-resistant superbugs.
Clostridium difficile
This hard-to-treat bacteria, known as C. diff., can cause infectious diarrhea. It's said to be a growing problem in hospitals, killing an estimated 14,000 people annually in the United States.
Necrotizing fasciitis
Also known as the flesh-eating bacteria, this condition is rare but still kills in the United States. A Michigan woman died of the infection in July 2012.
Ebola
This terrifying sickness causes victims to essentially bleed to death internally. The latest major outbreak of the virus, currently ravaging West Africa, has killed at least 8,235 people.
HIV/AIDS
Worldwide, an estimated 36 million people have died of AIDS since the epidemic emerged in the 1980s. The virus attacks the immune system, and while drugs have helped increase survival rates, there is no known cure.
Legionella
Legionnaire's Disease, caused by the Legionella bacteria, festers in moist environments. It can be fatal in up to one-third of cases.
Brucellosis
Symptoms are similar to that of the flu. Rarely fatal, but when the disease causes complications, such as abscesses or infection of organs, surgery to remove the infected areas might be necessary. People can get the disease through contact with infected livestock or from eating unpasteurized dairy products.
Malaria
Malaria, spread by infected mosquitoes, sickens more than 200 million people each year with high fevers, shaking chills, nausea and other severe flu-like symptoms. The World Health Organization says it killed 627,000 in 2012. Health officials are alarmed by the spread of a drug-resistant strain in Asia that could make the disease even harder to control.
Salmonella
Raw chicken is most often associated with this type of food poisoning; in 2014, a California chicken producer issued a recall connected with a strain of salmonella that had been making hundreds of people sick for more than a year.
Tuberculosis
It isn't highly contagious, but it does cause frequent scares, and not just abroad; in 2013, there were more than 9,500 cases in the U.S. At a hospital in El Paso, Texas, last year, more than 700 patients and 40 employees were exposed to someone with the disease who worked at the hospital nursery.
Worldwide, TB kills at least 1 million people every year.
Hand, food and mouth disease
This highly contagious bug mostly affects children. It's spread through saliva, feces, and the fluid from blisters. There is no cure, but the body often fights off the virus on its own.
E.Coli
This type of deadly food poisoning caused a big scare in the early 1990s when four children died after visiting a fast food restaurant. Since then, the bacterium has been linked to some packaged salads and other fresh foods.
Staph infection
These infections are caused by a germ commonly found on the skin or nose; staph infections can be deadly and some strains no longer respond to common antibiotics.
Measles
Parents refusing to vaccinate their children contributed to a series of outbreaks that sickened hundreds of people in 2014 and 2015. Last year saw more measles cases in the U.S. than any year since 1994. It's extremely contagious and can be fatal.
Chagas disease
Spread by the so-called "kissing bug," this parasitic illness is rarely fatal, but it can cause debilitating heart problems and other complications. It's been dubbed the "new AIDS of the Americas" because its spread through the northern hemisphere mimics the early spread of HIV. More than 300,000 infected people live in the U.S.