U.S sees first case of bacteria resistant to last-resort antibiotic
Health officials concerned over spread of resistance to last-resort antibiotic
Health officials concerned over spread of resistance to last-resort antibiotic
U.S.
health officials on Thursday reported the first case in the country of a
patient with an infection resistant to a last-resort antibiotic, and
expressed grave concern that the superbug could pose serious danger for
routine infections if it spreads.
"We risk being in a post-antibiotic world," said Thomas
Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, referring to the urinary tract infection of a 49-year-old
Pennsylvania woman who had not traveled within the prior five months.
Frieden, speaking at a National Press Club luncheon in
Washington, D.C., said the bacteria was resistant to colistin, an
antibiotic that is reserved for use against "nightmare bacteria."
The infection was reported Thursday in a study appearing in
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, a publication of the American
Society for Microbiology. It said the superbug itself had first been
infected with a tiny piece of DNA called a plasmid, which passed along a
gene called mcr-1 that confers resistance to colistin.
"(This) heralds the emergence of truly pan-drug resistant
bacteria," said the study, which was conducted by the Walter Reed
National Military Medical Center. "To the best of our knowledge, this is
the first report of mcr-1 in the USA."
The patient visited a clinic on April 26 with symptoms of a
urinary tract infection, according to the study, which did not describe
her current condition. Authors of the study could not immediately be
reached for comment.
The study said continued surveillance to determine the true frequency of the gene in the United States is critical.
"It is dangerous and we would assume it can be spread quickly,
even in a hospital environment if it is not well contained," said Dr.
Gail Cassell, a microbiologist and senior lecturer at Harvard Medical
School.
But she said the potential speed of its spread will not be
known until more is learned about how the Pennsylvania patient was
infected, and how present the colistin-resistant superbug is in the
United States and globally.
"MEDICINE CABINET IS EMPTY FOR SOME"
In the United States, antibiotic resistance has been blamed for at least 2 million illnesses and 23,000 deaths annually.
The mcr-1 gene was found last year in people and pigs in China, raising alarm.
The potential for the superbug to spread from animals to people is a major concern, Cassell said.
For now, Cassell said people can best protect themselves from
it and from other bacteria resistant to antibiotics by thoroughly
washing their hands, washing fruits and vegetables thoroughly and
preparing foods appropriately.
Experts have warned since the 1990s that especially bad
superbugs could be on the horizon, but few drugmakers have attempted to
develop drugs against them.
Frieden said the need for new antibiotics is one of the more
urgent health problems, as bugs become more and more resistant to
current treatments. "The more we look at drug resistance, the more
concerned we are," Frieden added. "The medicine cabinet is empty for
some patients. It is the end of the road for antibiotics unless we act
urgently."
Overprescribing of antibiotics by physicians and in hospitals
and their extensive use in food livestock have contributed to the
crisis. More than half of all hospitalized patients will get an
antibiotic at some point during their stay. But studies have shown that
30 percent to 50 percent of antibiotics prescribed in hospitals are
unnecessary or incorrect, contributing to antibiotic resistance.
Many drugmakers have been reluctant to spend the money needed
to develop new antibiotics, preferring to use their resources on
medicines for cancer and rare diseases that command very high prices and
lead to much larger profits.
In January, dozens of drugmakers and diagnostic companies, including Pfizer (PFE.N), Merck & Co (MRK.N), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L),
signed a declaration calling for new incentives from governments to
support investment in development of medicines to fight drug-resistant
superbugs.
(This story corrects headline, first and third paragraphs to
show bacteria is resistant to last-resort antibiotic colistin, not all
antibiotics)
(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson; Additional reporting by Bill Berkrot; Editing by Bernard Orr)
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