Colistin has been available since 1959 to treat infections caused by E. coli, Salmonella and Acinetobacter, which can cause pneumonia or serious blood and wound infections.
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Whether or not the nation’s first colistin-resistant infection signals the end of the antibiotic era, doctors and public health officials are still concerned that the most powerful antibiotic in the drug arsenal may no longer be up to the challenge of superbugs. His comments followed the first US report of a patient infected with bacteria resistant to a last-resort antibiotic called colistin.
According to the HHS, the detection of the superbug will provide new hints into how “super” it is but also brings attention to how much scientists still do not know about Colistin resistant bacteria.
Experts say the “superbug” itself was infected with a tiny piece of DNA called a plasmid.
Last year the Obama administration announced a five-year plan to combat superbugs and asked Congress to double funding to $1.2 billion, some of which would be spent on efforts to develop a new generation of antibiotics.
Infectious disease experts have warned for years that overuse of antibiotics is weakening the effectiveness of human defenses against harmful bacteria by creating bugs that are immune to drugs.
“The medicine cabinet is empty for some patients”, he added.
In November 2015, the mcr-1 gene was found in pigs, raw pork meat, and a few people in China.
“(This) heralds the emergence of truly pan-drug resistant bacteria”, said the study, which was conducted by the Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre.
So while her case is the first official record of colistin-resistant bacteria in America-the strain of resistant E. coli involved was first identified in the United Kingdom in 2008 and later in Italy-it is probably not the first case.
“The work highlights the worldwide nature of antimicrobial resistant infections – a drug resistance mechanism that was only discovered six months ago in Asia has already been found in samples in the European Union and now in a patient in the USA”.
Misuse and overuse of antibiotics is one of the main reasons resistance is spreading.
How did she get mcr-1? “We need to do a very comprehensive job protecting antibiotics so that we can have them and our children can have them”.
The state health department said it could not release details of its investigation into the Pennsylvania case but said it might be interviewing the patient and her family, collecting medical samples and asking about her medical and travel history.
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The Centers for Disease Control has a new warning about a “super-bug” that is resistant to antibiotics.
