(Newswire.net — June 4, 2016) — For some time now, experts have warned that an overuse of antibiotics will lead to the development of super-bacteria resistant to all types of antibiotics, and the first case has recently happened.
A 49-year-old woman from Pennsylvania, who was treated at a military clinic last month, is infected with a bacteria that is resistant to all antibiotics, even colistin, which has been kept as a last resort in case of super-bacteria.
Colistin is the last resort antibiotic for particularly dangerous types of superbugs, including a family of bacteria known as CRE, which health officials have dubbed ”nightmare bacteria”.
This is the first time that researchers have found a person in the United States carrying bacteria resistant to the antibiotics last resort. They explained that it is a mutation in the genome of the bacteria called MCR-1, which has made the bacteria resistant to antibiotics.
The case of the woman from Pennsylvania indicates the emergence of bacteria resistant to all drugs, an alarming development, experts warned.
Microbiologists have said that superbacterias are very dangerous and scientists say they can quickly spread, even in hospitals if the hygene conditions are not good.
However, Dr. Kasel said they can’t talk about potential spread of superbacterias before they explore all the details of how the patient from Pennsylvania was infected and whether there is another such case in the world.
Doctor Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that this discovery could mean that we are at the end of times for the antibiotics on which we have relied on for years.
This could mean the end of the road for antibiotics, with the world entering a post antibiotic era, says the top U.S. public health official, reports the Washington Post.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated that more than two million people are infected with bacteria resistant to drugs every year and 23,000 die from these infections, reported the Voice of America.