It turns out that there is another patient from the US affected by super-resistant bacteria that cannot be treated with ordinary antibiotics. This news was confirmed by the scientific community a day ago.
Namely, a group of experienced virologists have discovered the extremely rare mrc-1 gene, a gene that actually leads to resistance, in one strain of Escherichia coli obtained from an individual in New York City. This discovery was revealed in the Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy journal.
According to Lance Price, a virologist at the George Washington University, the world could face the occurrence of so-called enterobacteria that cannot be treated with ordinary antibiotics.
This May, scientists were able to identify the first case of infection in the US with Escherichia coli bacteria that carries the aforementioned gene. The patient (49) had to be hospitalized in a healthcare facility in Pennsylvania because she was suffering from UTI (urinary tract infection). She is now well and back home.
Doctors are scared by the mrc-1 gene because this gene makes the carrier bacteria resistant to different types of antibiotics including colistin.
This gene, situated in a very tiny part of microbial DNA, is able to transfer itself to different bacteria found even in other species not just humans.
This means that it can create resistance to every known pharmaceutical antibiotic.
Dozens of scientists were involved in the process of monitoring and tracking of the movement of this gene around the world when the first case of affected human patient occurred in China a year ago. When it comes to China, there were some pigs and poultry where this gene was found.
About 30 days ago, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) revealed that they have created a lab network that can provide fast respond in case there are new cases in the US.
Via Medical X Press
