The first confirmed case of a “superbug,” or microbes that developed resistance to antibiotics, has been recorded in the United States. But health experts say there’s no reason to panic yet, as the same bacteria can still be treated with other available antibiotics.
Researchers from the U.S. Defense Department are closely monitoring the condition of a woman from Pennsylvania who contracted mutated e-coli bacteria that developed resistance to the antibiotic colistin. Colistin is the drug of last resort used by doctors for severe microbial infection.
Pan-drug Resistant Microbes
The case was reported in a recently published study in the journal of the American Society of Microbiology on Thursday. The same case, the study reported, marks the beginning of truly pan-drug resistant microbes.
According to a report from the Washington Post, colistin is the treatment of choice for serious microbial infection, especially for a certain family of bacteria called the carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE. The same bacteria are also considered by physicians as a “nightmare bacteria,” because nearly half of people infected with these microbes die of the infection.
Drastic Measures Needed
Dr. Tom Frieden, chief of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in a report from NBC News, said the entry of a bacteria that developed resistance to a certain antibiotic could spell disaster if no drastic measures will be taken.
“It is the end of the road for antibiotics unless we act urgently. This patient hadn’t traveled,” Frieden was quoted as saying.
As previously reported by Morning News USA, health experts estimate that without drastic measures taken to address the worsening issue of antibiotic-resistant viruses and bacteria, at least 20 people would die every minute, or one every three seconds by year 2050.