‘Truly pan-drug resistant bacteria’ found in first US patient

A Pennsylvania woman was found to be carrying a strain of E. coli that’s resistant to colistin, the last-resort antibiotic that’s used to treat especially dangerous superbugs, according to research published in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy yesterday. The colistin-resistant strain had never been seen in a U.S. patient previously. The study’s authors said the finding “heralds the emergence of a truly pan-drug resistant bacteria,” according to the Washington Post, which reported on the research.

The finding is concerning, says Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who spoke with the Washington Post.

“It basically shows us that the end of the road isn’t very far away for antibiotics—that we may be in a situation where we have patients in our intensive-care units, or patients getting urinary tract infections for which we do not have antibiotics,” Dr. Frieden said. “I’ve been there for TB patients. I’ve cared for patients for whom there are no drugs left. It is a feeling of such horror and helplessness. This is not where we need to be.”

The CDC is investigating how the woman contracted the bacteria.

To learn more, read the research or check out the Washington Post’s coverage of the story.