The New York Times was one of the first to report on the published findings about a superbug reaching the United States in a medical journal by the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. In recent weeks, doctors discovered powerful bacteria untreatable with ordinary antibiotics. The bacteria, called a superbug, was found in a woman from Pennsylvania infected by a rare form of E. coli. This E. coli strand comes from a family of CRE germs. CRE, which stands for carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae, is resistant to the strongest antibiotic, colistin, used as a last measure treatment for deadly infectious diseases. This is the first appearance of an antibiotic-resistant superbug in the United States, and medical professionals consider CRE, “nightmare bacteria,” as it kills up to 50 percent of infected patients.
Infectious disease doctors have been warning that unless we discontinue the overuse of antibiotics in people and livestock, we cannot protect ourselves against the most powerful superbugs. More superbugs will invent new ways of resisting antibiotics that make our most common infectious diseases, like pneumonia and urinary tract infections, untreatable. What alarms infectious disease doctors most is that the CRE gene is moving and can be picked up by other bacteria – in medical centers, animal feed lots or people’s guts. This can make more bugs resistant to antibiotics.
Nowadays, doctors have to increase the strength of antibiotics to treat common infections. Those of us who use antibiotics frequently or misuse them are leading to flourishing gut germs that caused almost half a million infections in the United states in 2011, and 29,000 people died within 30 days of initial diagnosis. Thinking ahead to 2050, an estimated number of deaths could reach 10 million. Antibiotics are not widely manufactured since patients do not take them on a regular basis, like drugs for blood pressure or diabetes. Doctors prefer to save newer antibiotics for tougher infections that old antibiotics cannot cure. As bugs resist newly introduced antibiotics, they become ineffective and consequently have a short shelf life. This is another reason drug companies are not eager to produce or invest in the discovery of new antibiotics.
The discovery of CRE and colistin-resistant bacteria have been found in humans and livestock in several countries across the world. This poses a risk for humans who come into contact with animals treated with antibiotics. Genes resistant to antibiotics can easily pass their resistance to other bacteria found in undercooked meat and animal manure used to fertilize crops.
According to the Washington Post, "Scientists rang the alarm bells about the gene in November, but not enough attention was paid." Lance Price, director of the Antibiotic Resistance Action Center and a George Washington University professor, said "It's hard to imagine worse for public health in the United States...now we find that this gene has made its way into pigs and people, and people in the U.S." Price said, "If our leaders were waiting to act until they could see the cliff's edge - I hope this opens their eyes to the abyss that lies before us."
Pressure from the medical community are asking the FDA to better regulate the 25 drug companies who administer over 283 antibiotics approved for livestock. Under recent policies changes by FDA, antibiotics considered medically important for humans are no longer permitted for the growth in livestock. We can only hope policies are enforced with gravest respect for the future of the human species.
