2026-04-05

Bug Bounty

The superbugs are winning. Someone should be keeping score.

Consumer-facing antimicrobial resistance intelligence — translating WHO, ECDC, CDC, and NCBI surveillance data into beautiful, opinionated, story-driven weekly dispatches that answer the question every thinking person has: *Which antibiotics still work, which don't, and should I be worried?*

Niche Explored

Consumer-facing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) intelligence — translating massive WHO/NCBI/CDC surveillance data into accessible, visual, story-driven content for non-scientists. The “superbug tracker for humans, not lab techs.”

The Urgency (Why This Niche NOW)

Lancet 2024 landmark study: 39 million deaths projected from AMR by 2050. 1.27 million deaths directly attributable to AMR in 2019 alone, rising to estimated 1.91 million by 2025.
WHO March 2026: Released new target product profiles for urgently needed antibiotics, calling the pipeline “worryingly thin.”
AMR Benchmark 2026 (Access to Medicine Foundation): Published March 2026, showing pharma efforts still outpaced by superbugs.
BMJ 2025: “One in six bacterial infections worldwide are now resistant to antibiotics” — WHO warning.
Reuters 2024: “Antibiotic-resistance deaths to surge from 2025-2050.”
Nature Medicine 2026: New evaluation of AMR governance across 193 countries to inform the 2026 Global Action Plan update.
Search interest in “superbugs,” “antibiotic resistance” spikes every November (WHO AMR Awareness Week) and during outbreak news cycles — growing year over year.

Existing Competition

CIDRAP AMR (cidrap.umn.edu/asp) — Academic-facing, newsletter for healthcare professionals. Excellent but dense, institutional tone. Not consumer-designed.
Maryn McKenna (journalist/author of “Big Chicken”) — Freelance pieces in WIRED, National Geographic. Infrequent, not automated.
WHO GLASS Dashboard (data.who.int/dashboards/amr) — Raw surveillance data. No storytelling, no consumer interpretation.
ResistanceMap (resistancemap.cddep.org) — Data visualization tool from CDDEP/One Health Trust. Interactive but academic.
ResistanceOpen (resistanceopen.org) — HealthMap project. US-focused, basic charts.
Superbug Bulletin (workingtofightamr.org) — Small NGO newsletter, sporadic, advocacy-focused.
No one does beautiful, automated, consumer-facing AMR data journalism with opinionated analysis, generated infographics, and city-level actionable intelligence.

Data Sources Found

Surveillance & Resistance Data

WHO GLASS Dashboard — https://worldhealthorg.shinyapps.io/glass-dashboard/ — Global AMR and AMU data by country. Shiny app, data downloadable. Updated annually.
ECDC EARS-Net — https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/about-us/networks/disease-networks-and-laboratory-networks/ears-net-data — European AMR surveillance, downloadable datasets. Country-level resistance rates by pathogen/antibiotic combo.
ECDC Surveillance Atlas — https://atlas.ecdc.europa.eu/public/ — Interactive, API queryable.
CDC NARMS — https://www.cdc.gov/narms/data/index.html — National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System. US foodborne pathogen resistance data.
NCBI NDARO — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pathogens/antimicrobial-resistance/ — National Database of Antibiotic Resistant Organisms. Genomic surveillance.
CARD (Comprehensive Antibiotic Resistance Database) — https://card.mcmaster.ca/ — 8,582 ontology terms, 6,442 reference sequences, 4,480 SNPs. Academic license restrictions for commercial use, but data accessible for non-commercial.
ResistanceMap/CDDEP — https://resistancemap.cddep.org/ — Antibiotic resistance AND consumption data by country.
GlobalAMR.org — https://www.globalamr.org/ — World map of resistance rates.

Drug Pipeline & Clinical Trials

ClinicalTrials.gov API v2 — https://clinicaltrials.gov/data-api/api — Free, no API key. Search 500K+ trials. Filter by condition=“antimicrobial resistance” or intervention type.
WHO antibacterial pipeline — Published reports on clinical and preclinical pipeline.
Pew Charitable Trusts antibiotic pipeline tracker — Regular updates on drugs in development.

Research Papers (Automated)

PubMed E-utilities — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/home/develop/api/ — Free API, search PubMed for new AMR papers. Can automate weekly searches for new publications.
NCBI AMRFinderPlus — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pathogens/antimicrobial-resistance/AMRFinder/ — Identifies AMR genes from genomic data.

News & Alerts

CIDRAP RSS feed — AMR news updates.
WHO news releases — filterable by topic.
ProMED — Outbreak alerts including resistant infections.

SEO Analysis

Keywords: “antibiotic resistance” (high volume, high competition), “superbugs” (medium volume, medium competition), “MRSA statistics” (medium, lower competition), “antibiotic resistance by country” (lower volume, LOW competition — content gap), “last resort antibiotics” (low volume, very low competition — perfect for authority building), “superbug news” (medium, gaps in quality automated content)
Long-tail gold: “[country] antibiotic resistance rates”, “is [antibiotic] still effective”, “MRSA vs [drug]”, “most dangerous superbugs 2026” — all have demand, weak existing content
Featured snippet opportunities: “How many people die from superbugs?”, “What is the most antibiotic resistant bacteria?”, “Which countries have worst antibiotic resistance?”

Communities

r/medicine, r/microbiology, r/InfectiousDisease, r/preppers (antibiotic stockpiling discussions)
r/askscience — recurring questions about “why aren’t new antibiotics being developed”
Twitter/X #AMR community — researchers, WHO, health journalists, policy advocates
Global AMR advocacy networks — Working to Fight AMR, ReAct, GARDP

Image/Graphic Feasibility

Excellent — This niche is PERFECT for auto-generated visuals:
- World/regional heatmaps of resistance rates (choropleth maps from GLASS/EARS-Net data)
- Pathogen “wanted poster” cards with resistance profiles
- Drug pipeline progress bars (clinical trial phases)
- Time-series charts showing resistance trending upward
- Infographic scorecards per country
- “Superbug of the week” profile cards with AI-generated microscopy-style illustrations

Monetization Signals

Healthcare newsletter subscribers worth $50-200/year — proven by The Morning Brew health vertical, STAT News ($399/yr premium), Endpoints News
AMR diagnostics market: Growing strongly, companies actively seeking awareness channels
Pharma pipeline companies: Would pay for visibility (sponsored “pipeline watch” segments)
Educational institutions: Would share/link to authoritative, well-designed AMR content
Donation willingness: Health-anxiety content + feeling of public service = strong donation trigger. “Help us keep tracking superbugs” is a compelling pitch.