Disease

'Last-Resort' Antibiotics Fail Against New Superbugs

Some bacteria have finally breached the last wall of humans' antibiotic stronghold, according to a new study from China. In the study, researchers found a gene in one strain of Escherichia coli (E. coli) that protects these bacteria against one of the antibiotics considered to be a last resort. Moreover, this gene is easily transferred among microbial species, raising the possibility of multiple epidemics that doctors would be unable to treat.

When bacteria become resistant to even the last-resort antibiotics and can share that resistance with other types of bacteria, that leaves the human population extremely vulnerable to a range of infections that would be unstoppable.

In the study, the researchers found the gene, called mcr-1, in samples of E. coli that were taken from pigs, pork products and infected people. The gene protects the bacteria against an antibiotic called colistin. Mcr-1 was most common in the samples taken from animals, suggesting that it originated in livestock, the researchers said. In China, colistin is widely administered to livestock.

Animals that are raised for people to eat are routinely given antibiotics to protect the livestock against infection, and to stimulate their growth. But the constant presence of antibiotics in the livestock diet helps drive the increasing numbers of antibiotic resistant bacteria today, researchers say.

Colistin isn't a recent addition to the drug arsenal. It was discovered in 1947, and was used widely through the 1960s, but the drug had toxic effects on the kidneys and nervous system. Doctors mostly abandoned colistin after newer and safer antibiotics came along.

But sitting on the shelf for decades is exactly what kept colistin viable in the battle against drug-resistant bacteria. Because microbes had little exposure to colistin, they did not have much opportunity to evolve protection against it. As the list of effective antibiotics has shrunk, colistin has remained one of the last reliable lines of defense against bacterial infection.

That is, until now. In the new study, the researchers found the gene for colistin resistance in bacterial structures called plasmids, which are small circles of DNA that are easily passed from one bacterium to another, and even between different bacterial species.

Researchers have long known that the use of antibiotics, in both agriculture and in medicine, has encouraged bacteria to do what they've excelled at for more than 3 billion years: evolve and survive.

The new drug-resistant bacteria have not been found outside of China, the investigators said. But the researchers warned there is a strong possibility this drug-resistance gene could spread.

Right now, preventing bacterial infections with measures such as vaccinations and good hand hygiene are more vital then ever. He noted that antibiotics are useful only against bacterial infections, and that taking antibiotics when they're not needed just gives bacteria another chance to beef up their drug-resistant defences.

Disease

Lethal, Drug-resistant Bacteria Spreading in U.S. Healthcare Facilities

Drug-resistant bacteria called carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, are on the rise and have become more resistant to last-resort antibiotics during the past decade, according to a new CDC report. These bacteria are causing more hospitalized patients to get infections that, in some cases, are impossible to treat.

CRE are lethal bacteria that pose a triple threat:

Resistance: CRE are resistant to all, or nearly all, the antibiotics we have - even our most powerful drugs of last-resort.

Death: CRE have high mortality rates – CRE germs kill 1 in 2 patients who get bloodstream infections from them.

Spread of disease: CRE easily transfer their antibiotic resistance to other bacteria. For example, carbapenem-resistant klebsiella can spread its drug-destroying weapons to a normal E. coli bacteria, which makes the E.coli resistant to antibiotics also. That could create a nightmare scenario since E. coli is the most common cause of urinary tract infections in healthy people.

Currently, almost all CRE infections occur in people receiving significant medical care. CRE are usually transmitted from person-to-person, often on the hands of health care workers.

During just the first half of 2012, almost 200 hospitals and long-term acute care facilities treated at least one patient infected with these bacteria.

Disease

Antibiotic 'Apocalypse' Warning

The rise in drug resistant infections is comparable to the threat of global warming, according to the chief medical officer for England. Bacteria are becoming resistant to current drugs and there are few antibiotics to replace them. Experts say it is a global problem and needs much more attention. Antibiotics have been one of the greatest success stories in medicine. However, bacteria are a rapidly adapting foe which find new ways to evade drugs. MRSA rapidly became one of the most feared words in hospitals wards and there are growing reports of resistance in strains of E. coli, tuberculosis and gonorrhoea. While the full effects of global warming lie some time in the future, the apocalyptic scenario is that when someone needs a new hip in 20 years he might well die from a routine infection because we've run out of antibiotics.

The World Health Organization has warned the world is heading for a "post-antibiotic era" unless action is taken. It paints a future in which "many common infections will no longer have a cure and, once again, kill unabated. Research is not happening quickly enough. "We need resources for surveillance, resources to cope with the problem and to get public information across." The drugs companies have run out of options as all the easy drugs have been made. "We have to be aware that we aren't going to have new wonder drugs coming along because there just aren't any."

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Legionnaires' Disease Outbreak in Melbourne, Australia

Victoria's health department has ordered the testing of cooling towers in the busy Melbourne suburb of Footscray, after a fatal outbreak of legionnaires' disease. A man aged in his 50's died in hospital this morning and four others have been admitted.