It has been a public health concern that the drug resistant super bug is increasing. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a worst case scenario wherein a woman with bacterial infection was resistant to all FDA-approved treatments. The woman from Nevada, died in September after being infected with a type of bacteria that is drug resistant.
The drug resistant super bug is called Klebsiella pneumonaiae that was resistant to all antibiotics available in the U.S. The woman from Nevada was in her 70's when she arrived at the hospital and she shows some signs of sepsis. According to the CDC she stayed in India for years and had been treated for a leg injury and a bone infection. The doctors conducted some tests and they found the bacteria that belonged to a class of drug resistant bacterias called carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae.
The 70 year old woman died September after going into septic shock. This extremely rare case of infection drew attention on the increasing number of cases of these drug-resistant infections and the lack of antibiotics available to treat them. According to the ABC, no matter how effective antibiotics are, new developed antibacterial drugs are needed to treat bacteria mutate and grow more resistant to the existing drug.
This drug resistant super bug is believed to be widely spread unnoticed by people. According to CNN, it is always important for health care providers wash their hands. It is important to clean equipments too. This way the transfer of bacterial infection from one person to the other will be prevented.
Hanage said that new threats would be identified and flagged quickly so we can direct our resources most effectively. He added that in order to be able to do that, you have to know what you are looking for, and so work like this is helpful to tell us what we should be looking for and where we should be worried. This drug resistant super bug calls for the production of new antibiotics that could deal with this bacteria.
