--- title: Superbug North Carolina: Death Toll Grows As It Spreads description: Two North Carolina residents have died in recent months from a deadly "superbug," out of the approximately 15 who have been treated. canonical: https://time.com/3718522/north-carolina-superbug/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-23T14:24:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T04:37:29.022Z article:section: Health og:title: 2 Superbug Deaths Reported in North Carolina og:description: The bacteria is thought to kill 50% of those infected og:url: https://time.com/3718522/north-carolina-superbug/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 2 Superbug Deaths Reported in North Carolina twitter:description: The bacteria is thought to kill 50% of those infected twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # 2 Superbug Deaths Reported in North Carolina  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Feb 23, 2015 2:24 PM UTC  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Feb 23, 2015 2:24 PM UTC Two North Carolina residents have died in recent months from a deadly “superbug,” out of the approximately 15 who have been treated. Carolinas HealthCare System told the [Associated Press](http://hosted2.ap.org/NCGOL/NC/Article%5F2015-02-23-NC--Hospital%20Superbug%20Outbreak/id-2f2e6a1d86824dda904ad36abb263854) it has begun an aggressive effort to combat the superbug, formally known as Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae, which includes isolating the infected and using special cleaning procedures in rooms where they have stayed. Hospital officials cited patient privacy laws to explain why the deaths were not reported earlier. The bacteria, which is thought to kill 50% of those infected, was recently revealed to have infected two patients who died in a [California hospital](http://time.com/3714519/ucla-says-more-than-100-may-have-encountered-superbug/). More than 100 more were thought to have been potentially exposed. **MORE:** [What You Need to Know About the California ‘Superbug’](http://time.com/3715750/superbug-ucla-deadly/) \[[_AP_](http://hosted2.ap.org/NCGOL/NC/Article%5F2015-02-23-NC--Hospital%20Superbug%20Outbreak/id-2f2e6a1d86824dda904ad36abb263854)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3718522/north-carolina-superbug/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3718522/north-carolina-superbug/"},"headline":"2 Superbug Deaths Reported in North Carolina","datePublished":"2015-02-23T14:24:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:37:29.022Z","description":"The bacteria is thought to kill 50% of those infected","url":"https://time.com/3718522/north-carolina-superbug/","keywords":["los angeles","States","North Carolina","Superbug"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3718522/north-carolina-superbug/","name":"2 Superbug Deaths Reported in North Carolina"}}]}] ```