Bacteria resistant to last-resort antibiotic found in US

Editor's Note

Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on May 27 reported the first US case of Escherichia coli (E coli) bacteria that is resistant to colistin, a last-resort antibiotic, Reuters reports.

A 49-year old woman in Pennsylvania was found last month to have a urinary tract infection with a strain of E coli that includes a gene called "mcr-1," which confers the resistance. The mcr-1 gene was found last year in people and pigs in China.

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.