Each year in the United States, at least 2 million people become infected with other kinds of bacteria that can’t be beaten with most antibiotics, and at least 23,000 people die each year as a result of those infections, according to the CDC.
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The report reveals that last month, a 49-year-old female presented at a military treatment center in Pennsylvania with a urinary tract infection (UTI). It was initially resistant to antibiotics, but was eventually treated successfully.
Jackson says the antibiotic colisitin has been around for decades, but is often used as a last resort because of its strong side effects.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Tom Frieden announced the case at the National Press Club in Washington. However, the U.S. Department of Defense released a report Thursday saying that doctors have identified this dreaded superbug in a Pennsylvania woman.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 23,000 people in the USA die from drug-resistant infections every year. The bug in question had first been infected with a DNA fragment called a plasmid, which carries a gene called mcr-1.
“(This) heralds the emergence of truly pan-drug resistant bacteria”, said the study, which was conducted by the Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre.
Doctors have seen cases in China, Italy, and the United Kingdom.
Many experts have put the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria down to the fact that the drugs are readily available to everyone, which has allowed strains and our bodies to build up a resistance.
In the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, investigators from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) and the Multidrug Resistant Organism Repository and Surveillance Network (MRSN) reveal the first case of colistin resistance in the U.S.
Officials would not say where in the state the patient lives or provide details about her condition.
Tom Fekete, an infectious disease specialist at Temple University Hospital, said he is hopeful about other drugs in the pipeline. “It is the end of the road for antibiotics, unless we act urgently”, said Dr. Frieden.
“Antibiotic resistance rarely, if ever, stays in one place, so now that we’ve seen this bacteria, and we expect to see it elsewhere in the United States”, said Jackson. LSU Health Shreveport takes precautions to stop spreading resistant bacteria.
The resistance can spread because it arises from loose genetic material that bacteria typically share with one another.
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The mcr-1 gene was found past year in people and pigs in China, raising alarm. “The more we look at drug resistance, the more concerned we are”.
