Drug Resistant Gene Confirmed In The US

Drug Resistant Gene Confirmed In The US

This is truly alarming and calls for extreme caution:


 "For a long time, there have been newspaper stories and magazine articles that asked 'The end of antibiotics?' Well, now I would say you can change the title to 'The end of antibiotics, period.'"  Dr. Arjun Shrinivasan

 

• Mcr-1 is a gene mutation that makes bacteria resistant to our last resort class of antibiotics. The rate of transfer of resistance between bacteria is exceptionally high, making it a formidable threat to human health
• Less than a year after the mcr-1 gene was discovered in pigs and people in China, it has now been identified in a pork sample and a patient being treated for E.coli in the U.S.
• According to the most thorough review of the drug resistance problem to date, drastic measures are needed, including improved sanitation and the elimination of unnecessary antibiotics in farming and human medicine

Superbug - New Research

News on the Superbug

New research shows that the superbug could threaten the health of a large number of people in the future.  This is most alarming as the antibiotic resistant infections can be deadly.

• Researchers recently discovered a new gene, called mcr-1, in pigs and people in China — a gene mutation that makes bacteria resistant to our last-resort class of antibiotics
• The drug resistance caused by this gene has the potential to create a global epidemic of infections resistant to ALL available antibiotics, as the rate of transfer of resistance between bacteria is exceptionally high
• The researchers call for urgent restrictions on the use of polymyxins, including colistin, which is widely used in livestock farming