Tag Archives: Superbug

‘Alarming’ superbugs a risk to people, animals and food, EU warns

electronic microscope of superbug

By Kate Kelland

LONDON (Reuters) – Superbug bacteria found in people, animals and food across the European Union pose an “alarming” threat to public and animal health having evolved to resist widely used antibiotics, disease and safety experts warned on Wednesday.

A report on antimicrobial resistance in bacteria by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said some 25,000 people die from such superbugs in the European Union every year.

“Antimicrobial resistance is an alarming threat putting human and animal health in danger,” said Vytenis Andriukaitis, the EU’s health and food safety commissioner.

“We have put substantial efforts to stop its rise, but this is not enough. We must be quicker, stronger and act on several fronts.”

Drug resistance is driven by the misuse and overuse of antibiotics, which encourages bacteria to evolve to survive and develop new ways of beating the medicines.

Wednesday’s report highlighted that in Salmonella bacteria – which can cause the common and serious food-borne infection Salmonellosis – multi-drug resistance is high across the EU.

Mike Catchpole, the ECDC’s chief scientist, said he was particularly concerned that some common types of Salmonella in humans, such as monophasic Salmonella Typhimurium, are showing extremely high multi-drug resistance.

“Prudent use of antibiotics in human and veterinary medicine is extremely important,” he said. “We all have a responsibility to ensure that antibiotics keep working.”

Resistance to carbapenem antibiotics – usually the last remaining treatment option for patients infected with multi-drug resistant superbugs – was detected for the first time in animals and food, albeit at low levels, as part of EU-wide annual monitoring for the report.

It said very low levels of resistance were observed in E. coli bacteria found in pigs and in meat from pigs.

Resistance to colistin, another last-resort human antibiotic – was also found at very low levels in Salmonella and E. coli in pigs and cattle, the report said.

Marta Hugas, head of EFSA’s biological hazards and contaminants unit, noted geographic variations across the European Union, with countries in northern and western Europe generally having lower resistance levels than those in southern and eastern Europe and said this was most likely due to differences in the level of use and overuse of the medicines.

“In countries where actions have been taken to reduce, replace and re-think the use of antimicrobials in animals show lower levels of antimicrobial resistance and decreasing trends,” she said.

(This story is a refile to remove extraneous word in first paragraph)

(Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)

Researchers find first U.S. bacteria with worrisome superbug genes

Colonies of E. coli bacteria are seen in a microscopic image courtesy of the CDC

(Reuters) – New Jersey researchers said on Monday they had identified perhaps the first strain of E. Coli bacteria in the United States with mobile genes that make it resistant to two types of antibiotics now considered last-line defenses against superbugs.

Researchers said the strain of bacteria was found in a 76-year-old man who was treated in 2014 for a complicated urinary tract infection. Further analysis in 2016 showed the bacterium carried mcr-1, a gene that creates resistance to the last-ditch antibiotic colistin. It was also shown to carry blaNDM-5, a gene that blocks effectiveness of carbapenems, which are considered medicine’s most reliable current antibiotics now that bacteria have found ways of outwitting other families of antibiotics.

Results of the study were reported on Monday in mBio, an online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

Although the patient was treated successfully with other antibiotics, researchers said the bacterium had the potential to spread and become a powerful superbug.

“The good news is that this did not cause a major outbreak of drug-resistant infection,” said senior study author Barry Kreiswirth, director of the Public Health Research Institute Tuberculosis Center at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey.

(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

G7 told to act on antibiotics as dreaded superbug hits U.S.

Colonies of E. coli bacteria are seen in a microscopic image courtesy of the CDC

By Kylie MacLellan and Ben Hirschler

ISE-SHIMA, Japan/LONDON (Reuters) – Britain told the G7 industrial powers on Friday to do more to fight killer superbugs as the United States reported the first case in the country of a patient with bacteria resistant to a last-resort antibiotic.

U.S. scientists said the infection in a 49-year-old Pennsylvania woman “heralds the emergence of truly pan-drug resistant bacteria” because it could not be controlled even by colistin, an antibiotic reserved for “nightmare” bugs.

In Japan, British Prime Minister David Cameron said leading countries needed to tackle resistance by reducing the use of antibiotics and rewarding drug companies for developing new medicines.

“In too many cases antibiotics have stopped working. That means people are dying of simple infections or conditions like TB (tuberculosis), tetanus, sepsis, infections that should not mean a death sentence,” he told a news conference at a summit in Japan.

“If we do nothing about this there will be a cumulative hit to the world economy of $100 trillion and it is potentially the end of modern medicine as we know it.”

A review commissioned by the British government and published last week said a reward of between $1 billion and $1.5 billion should be paid for any successful new antimicrobial medicine brought to market.

If the problem is not brought under control, antimicrobial resistance could kill an extra 10 million people a year by 2050, the review warned.

The U.S. case is a further wake-up call for the world, although it is not the first time that colistin resistance has appeared.

Medics around were alarmed last year by the discovery in China of a new gene that makes bacteria highly resistant to the medicine. Since then, the deadly strain has also been detected in Europe and Canada.

The development of colistin resistance is linked to the drug’s widespread use in livestock and the European Medicines Agency on Thursday called for a 65 percent cut in the amount of the medicine used in farming.

“The more we look at drug resistance, the more concerned we are,” Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters in Washington.

“The medicine cabinet is empty for some patients. It is the end of the road for antibiotics unless we act urgently.”

The problem is aggravated by drugmakers’ reluctance to invest in developing new antibiotics, preferring to focus on more profitable disease areas, although recently there has been some increase in investment, prompted by the superbug threat.

In January, 83 companies, including Pfizer, Merck, MRK., Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N and GlaxoSmithKline, signed a declaration urging governments to support work on new antibiotics.

(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; Writing by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Louise Ireland)

U.S. sees first case of bacteria resistant to all antibiotics

The mcr-1 plasmid-borne colistin resistance gene has been found primarily in Escherichia coli, pictured.

By Ransdell Pierson and Bill Berkrot

(Reuters) – U.S. health officials on Thursday reported the first case in the country of a patient with an infection resistant to all known antibiotics, and expressed grave concern that the superbug could pose serious danger for routine infections if it spreads.

“We risk being in a post-antibiotic world,” said Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, referring to the urinary tract infection of a 49-year-old Pennsylvania woman who had not travelled within the prior five months.

Frieden, speaking at a National Press Club luncheon in Washington, D.C., said the infection was not controlled even by colistin, an antibiotic that is reserved for use against “nightmare bacteria.”

The infection was reported Thursday in a study appearing in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, a publication of the American Society for Microbiology. It said the superbug itself had first been infected with a tiny piece of DNA called a plasmid, which passed along a gene called mcr-1 that confers resistance to colistin.

“(This) heralds the emergence of truly pan-drug resistant bacteria,” said the study, which was conducted by the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of mcr-1 in the USA.”

The patient visited a clinic on April 26 with symptoms of a urinary tract infection, according to the study, which did not describe her current condition. Authors of the study could not immediately be reached for comment.

The study said continued surveillance to determine the true frequency of the gene in the United States is critical.

“It is dangerous and we would assume it can be spread quickly, even in a hospital environment if it is not well contained,” said Dr. Gail Cassell, a microbiologist and senior lecturer at Harvard Medical School.

But she said the potential speed of its spread will not be known until more is learned about how the Pennsylvania patient was infected, and how present the colistin-resistant superbug is in the United States and globally.

“MEDICINE CABINET IS EMPTY FOR SOME”

In the United States, antibiotic resistance has been blamed for at least 2 million illnesses and 23,000 deaths annually.

The mcr-1 gene was found last year in people and pigs in China, raising alarm.

The potential for the superbug to spread from animals to people is a major concern, Cassell said.

For now, Cassell said people can best protect themselves from it and from other bacteria resistant to antibiotics by thoroughly washing their hands, washing fruits and vegetables thoroughly and preparing foods appropriately.

Experts have warned since the 1990s that especially bad superbugs could be on the horizon, but few drugmakers have attempted to develop drugs against them.

Frieden said the need for new antibiotics is one of the more urgent health problems, as bugs become more and more resistant to current treatments. “The more we look at drug resistance, the more concerned we are,” Frieden added. “The medicine cabinet is empty for some patients. It is the end of the road for antibiotics unless we act urgently.”

Overprescribing of antibiotics by physicians and in hospitals and their extensive use in food livestock have contributed to the crisis. More than half of all hospitalized patients will get an antibiotic at some point during their stay. But studies have shown that 30 percent to 50 percent of antibiotics prescribed in hospitals are unnecessary or incorrect, contributing to antibiotic resistance.

Many drugmakers have been reluctant to spend the money needed to develop new antibiotics, preferring to use their resources on medicines for cancer and rare diseases that command very high prices and lead to much larger profits.

In January, dozens of drugmakers and diagnostic companies, including Pfizer, Merck Co MRK, Johnson & Johnson,JNJ; and GlaxoSmith, signed a declaration calling for new incentives from governments to support investment in development of medicines to fight drug-resistant superbugs.

(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson; Additional reporting by Bill Berkrot; Editing by Bernard Orr)

New “Superbug” Gene Found in People and Pigs in China Makes Bacteria Antibiotic-Resistant

Scientists in China have made the “alarming” discovery that another line of defense against infection may have been breached.  In research studies led by Hua Liu from the South China Agricultural University, they have identified infectious bacteria that may be resistant to antibiotics.

The University published their work in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal finding the gene called mcr-1, on plasmids – mobile DNA that can be easily copied and transferred between different bacteria.

According to several news reports, these untreatable superbugs originated in animals before spreading to humans and are highly resistant to antibiotics known as polymyxins, our last line of defense against disease when all else fails.

They include E.coli, the pneumonia bug Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa which can trigger serious lung, blood, and surgical infections.

Professor Nigel Brown, president of Britain’s Microbiology Society, said: “This discovery that resistance to polymyxins can be transferred between bacteria is alarming.

“Now that it has been demonstrated that resistance can be transferred between bacteria and across bacterial species, another line of defense against infection is in danger of being breached.

“We need careful surveillance to track the potential global spread of this resistance, and investment in research to discover new drugs with different modes of action.”

According to  Reuters, researchers warned that these findings suggest “the progression from extensive drug resistance to pandrug resistance is inevitable.”

“(And) although currently confined to China, mcr-1 is likely to emulate other resistance genes … and spread worldwide.”

Superbug Kills 2 At UCLA Hospital

A deadly superbug has killed two people at UCLA’s Ronald Reagan Medical Center and at least 180 patients have been exposed to the deadly bacteria.

The two dead are among seven patients who have the drug-resistant superbug known as CRE.  The outbreak is the latest in a string of incidents across the U.S.

The bacteria, if it spreads to a patient’s bloodstream, can kill up to 50% of patients.

The bacteria reportedly spread through two improperly cleaned endoscopes.  The scopes are used on 500,000 patients annually to treat diseases from cancers to gallstones.   Medical experts say because of their design they are difficult to clean.

UCLA says it notified public health authorities immediately wen they discovered the bacteria in a patient.

One hospital safety consultant said that current outbreak is unprecedented.

“These outbreaks at UCLA and other hospitals could collectively be the most significant instance of disease transmission ever linked to a contaminated reusable medical instrument,” Lawrence Muscarella said.

Last month, 32 patients were sickened by a bacteria similar to CRE at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle.  Eleven of those patients died from the illness.

WHO Declares Post-Antibiotic Age Is Here

The United Nations has declared the world is now officially in the post-antibiotic age.

The World Health Organization said Wednesday that the discussion regarding the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria is no longer a theoretical discussion and a harsh reality that the world needs to confront.

“The implications will be devastating,” the WHO said in a report.

The WHO report included shocking information. The report shows that the most well known of the “superbugs”, MRSA, will kill more people in the United States than AIDS.  The report says a similar situation will occur this year in Europe.

International aid groups are joining the WHO in raising the alarm.

“We see horrendous rates of antibiotic resistance wherever we look in our field operations, including children admitted to nutritional centers in Niger, and people in our surgical and trauma units in Syria,” Jennifer Cohn of Doctors Without Borders told Fox.

Antibiotic Resistant Superbug Found In Private Homes

New York health officials have reported that the antibiotic resistant superbug MRSA has been found in private homes.

The bacteria that cause 23,000 deaths a year has been most commonly found inside hospitals and nursing homes.   The Centers for Disease Control says that outside of health care settings, the most common way for the bacteria to spread were close quarter living situations such as military barracks or athletic locker rooms.

HealthDay is reporting that 161 New York residents who became infected with the bacteria had contracted the disease in their homes.

“What our findings show is it’s also endemic in households,” said lead researcher Dr. Anne-Catrin Uhlemann, of Columbia University Medical Center.

Doctors say the discovery will now require not only treatment of the victims of the bacteria in the hospital but also a full search of the victim’s home and actively remove the sources of the bacteria.

UK Raises Alarm On Superbugs

The UK is using the latest meeting of leaders from the G8 countries to sound the alarm over “superbugs” that are increasingly resistant to the use of antibiotics.

Scientists have stated action is necessary because of the rise worldwide of drug-resistant strains of bacteria including those that cause tuberculosis and pneumonia. Officials say the soaring rates of previously treatable diseases could turn into a public health crisis. Continue reading →

Five Dead from Novel Coronavirus In Saudi Arabia

ncovvirusWhile much of the world is focused on the H7N9 bird flu outbreak in China, Saudi Arabia has quietly announced that five people have died from the novel coronavirus (NCoV).  The virus has killed 11 of the 17 people it has infected for a mortality rate of 65%.

The virus is in the same family as the SARS virus that emerged in Asia in 2003 and caused hundreds of deaths worldwide.  While NCoV is still in the early stages and thus could have a lower overall mortality rate, by comparison the mortality rate for SARS during the 2003 outbreak was 9.6%.

Confirmed cases of NCoV have been found in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Germany and the U.K.  The European victims of the virus either traveled to the  middle east or were in close contact to a victim who had traveled to that region.  Unlike the H7N9 virus outbreak, the NCoV virus has been conclusively proven to travel human-t0-human.

The World Health Organization said the latest cases were not within the same family and that none of the victims showed recent travel or contact with animals.   (Scientists have been investigating the possibility the virus originated in animals.)  The Saudi Health Ministry said they have taken samples from anyone connected to the fatalities to see if they might be infected with NCoV.

The WHO says despite the evidence of human-to-human transmission, the threat to the general population is small.