Bacteria resistant to all drugs discovered in the US

The milder level of the past was only multidrug-resistant bacteria and wide drug resistance.

A woman in Pennsylvania became the first American to test positive for a bacterium that is resistant to all antibiotics, even those used in the last case that mankind used. Friends

This first documented case "signaled the true occurrence of all resistant bacteria" , according to health experts. The milder level of the past was only multidrug-resistant bacteria and wide drug resistance . That may mean "the end of the road" for the era of antibiotics.

Bacteria resistant to all drugs discovered in the US.

The report of the above case was published in scientific journals Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. Researchers from the Walter Reed Army Research Institute, the US Department of Defense's largest biomedical science, pointed out that the bacteria were present in the urine of a 49-year-old woman.

Earlier in April, she went to a clinic in Pennsylvania with symptoms similar to urinary tract infections. Her urine sample was sent to the US Army Medical Center for testing. Positive test results for mcr-1, genes are making bacteria resistant to all antibiotics, including the last most powerful drug, colistin .

Colistin is an antibiotic to fight bacteria that are most resistant to antibiotics. Until now, it is still the most powerful tool we have to treat multidrug-resistant bacteria. However, new studies increasingly show evidence that colistin also lost its effectiveness.

Scientists fear the bacteria can now exchange resistance genes with each other. The warning was made in the microbiological community last year, when the first colistin-resistant exchange genes were discovered in China.

Ever since the report was published, the global health community has closely watched and searched for the occurrence of these genes. Cases have been documented in Europe, Canada and now the United States. Test results from a woman in Pennsylvania showed no safe doses of colistin could be used to treat her.

The mcr-1 gene has been confirmed to be responsible for this case. "The discovery of this gene requires constant monitoring to determine its sources in the community. Further, but very important is to prevent its spread , " the scientists wrote in report.

Previous E. coli bacteria could also carry resistance genes mcr-1.

In addition to the first case confirmed on humans, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Department of Agriculture previously studied a case of E. coli carrying mcr-1 that causes infection in pigs. Although there is no evidence, US officials are concerned that there is a link between the two.

When genes can be exchanged between bacteria, it will exacerbate the situation of the antibiotic resistance crisis taking place on a global scale. Therefore, an emergency response is underway to prevent the spread of mcr-1.

Talking about the first case of mcr-1 recorded in humans in the United States, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said: "Basically, this shows us that the end of the road is no longer very far from antibiotics ".

However, Dr. Gerry Wright, director of the Michael G.DeGroote Institute of Infectious Diseases, said it has even been signaled for a long time."I think genes have been around for a long time, it's just that we haven't discovered them yet. Because patients don't have travel reports, you can be sure that mcr-1 is in the United States."