The End of Antibiotics? First “Truly Pan-Drug Resistant Bacteria” Found in United States
June 3, 2016 | Aging Services Risk Management
The recent discovery of an antibiotic-resistant strain of bacteria in the urine of a 49-year-old Pennsylvania woman "heralds the emergence of truly pan-drug resistant bacteria," according to a study published May 26, 2016 in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is working with Pennsylvania health officials to find out how the woman contracted the bacteria. The authors said she reported no travel history within the previous five months. The carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) strain of Escherichia coli is resistant even to colistin, a "last-resort" antibiotic, which is used against multidrug-resistant "superbugs." It is the first such strain found in the United States.