This chapter focuses on MRSA, one of the superbugs that seem to 'outwit' modern medicine. It contributes to the emergent study of 'infectious diseases and society' which complements the more established study of 'science and society'. We use approaches derived from discourse analysis, corpus linguistics and metaphor analysis (especially the study of discourse metaphors and metaphor scenarios) to investigate how an emergent risk from a bacterium was portrayed by the UK national press at three points in time: 1995 when the threat was as yet remote, 2000 when cases began to rise dramatically, and 2005 when the threat from MRSA became a hot political issue. We describe the changing rhetorical strategies used and the influences from science and policy on the use of preferred strategies, which roughly speaking changed from giving the bacteria a voice, to giving patients a voice, to giving politicians and policies a voice. In studying MRSA from a 'discursive' perspective we hope to contribute to a new understanding of the epidemiology of infections. (Brigitte Nerlich and Nelya Koteyko)