28 Jun, 2016
A second patient carrying the antibiotic-resistant superbug has been identified in New York, one month after a woman carrying the gene was discovered in Pennsylvania.
The mcr-1 superbug gene makes bacteria highly resistant to a last-resort class of antibiotics, sparking fears of a possible end of the road for the crucial drugs.
Scientists identified the gene in the patients sample of E. coli bacteria, a finding published Monday in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
The diagnosis follows on from the first discovery that proved the superbug had reached the US, which was found in April but shared in the same microbiology journal in May. In that instance, a 49-year-old woman in Pennsylvania showed symptoms of a urinary tract infection, but it was later determined that the patient carried a strain of E. coli.
The unique superbug is resistant to the antibiotic called colistin, a drug used to treat multi-drug-resistant infections and usually a last resort because of its side effects.
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A second patient carrying the antibiotic-resistant superbug has been identified in New York, one month after a woman carrying the gene was discovered in Pennsylvania.
The mcr-1 superbug gene makes bacteria highly resistant to a last-resort class of antibiotics, sparking fears of a possible end of the road for the crucial drugs.
Scientists identified the gene in the patients sample of E. coli bacteria, a finding published Monday in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
The diagnosis follows on from the first discovery that proved the superbug had reached the US, which was found in April but shared in the same microbiology journal in May. In that instance, a 49-year-old woman in Pennsylvania showed symptoms of a urinary tract infection, but it was later determined that the patient carried a strain of E. coli.
The unique superbug is resistant to the antibiotic called colistin, a drug used to treat multi-drug-resistant infections and usually a last resort because of its side effects.
READ MORE
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