 "Antibiotic-resistant superbug surfaces in US for first time: Report")
In what could prove to be a serious threat to the effectiveness of antibiotics in the future, researchers have for the first time found a person in the United States carrying bacteria resistant to the antibiotic colistin, reported the Washington Post this week.
An antibiotic-resistant strain of E coli was found last month in the urine of a 49-year-old Pennsylvania woman, the report said. The report added that Defense Department researchers have determined that the strain is resistant to colistin.
Colistin, the report explains, is the "antibiotic of last resort for particularly dangerous types of superbugs".
The international daily quoted a study, published in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, a publication of the American Society for Microbiology, saying that the finding "heralds the emergence of a truly pan-drug resistant bacteria".
What exactly is a superbug?
A superbug is a microbe which has evolved to exhibit antimicrobial (drug) resistance, whereby the microbe becomes partially or completely resistant to drugs which were previously successful in treating ailments caused by it.
More From This Section
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), resistant microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites, are able to withstand attack by antimicrobial drugs, such as antibacterial drugs, antifungals, antivirals, and antimalarials.
Antibiotic resistance falls under the broader umbrella term of antimicrobial resistance.
Why is this particular finding so serious?
The report cites health officials saying that this particular case, by itself, "is not cause for panic".
According to the report, while the strain found in the Pennsylvania woman can be treated with other antibiotics, researchers worry that the threat could come from the antibiotic-resistant gene found in the bacteria, known as mcr-1, spreading to other types of bacteria which are already resistant to other antibiotics.
Additionally, colistin, the antibiotic this particular strain of E coli is resistant to, was brought back into usage to deal with multidrug-resistant bacterial infections.
According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, colistin was put out of use in the 1970s because of its toxicity. However, according to the institute, with antibacterial resistance on the rise, colistin was brought in again to treat patients suffering from ailments caused by "multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacterial infections".
Speaking on the consequences of the finding to Washington Post, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden said: “It basically shows us that the end of the road isn’t very far away for antibiotics — that we may be in a situation where we have patients in our intensive-care units, or patients getting urinary tract infections for which we do not have antibiotics.”
"I’ve cared for patients for whom there are no drugs left. It is a feeling of such horror and helplessness,” Frieden said, adding, “This is not where we need to be.”
What is the global scenario?
According to the WHO, in 2012, a gradual increase was seen in resistance to HIV drugs. Since then, the organisation says that further increases in resistance to first-line treatment drugs were reported.
Additionally, the WHO says that in 2013 there were about 480,000 new cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis was also identified in 100 countries.
The organisation also said that high proportions of antibiotic resistance were found in bacteria that cause common infections like urinary tract infections, pneumonia and bloodstream infections, among other ailments, in all regions of the world.