Multidrug resistant CRE kills woman in Nevada

Discussion in 'Biology & Genetics' started by billvon, Jan 17, 2017.

  1. billvon Valued Senior Member

    I've been harping on the overuse of antibiotics for a long time. Doctors regularly overprescribe antibiotics for colds and tend to use a "shotgun" approach to fighting more serious infections. But honestly that's a small part of the problem - a much bigger problem is the use of tons of antibiotics to get cattle to grow faster, because those antibiotics end up everywhere. In our food, in our water, in our soil. And bacteria living in those environments evolve resistance to those antibiotics, which means we have to use more powerful ones regularly, so bacteria adapt to THOSE - and so on.

    Now for the first time a US woman has died of a bacterial infection (carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae) that is immune to every known antibiotic. That bacteria is out there now; expect to see more deaths from it. I hope that this will make people think more carefully about the overuse of antibiotics in the US.
  2. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement

    to hide all adverts.
  3. Kittamaru Now nearly 40 pounds lighter. Staff Member

    The only known plausible treatment for this particular strain, from what I've heard, is a bacteriophage... and those apparently aren't even being trialed in the US yet?
  4. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement

    to hide all adverts.

Share This Page