End of the Road for Antibiotics? Researchers Find Person Inside U.S. Carrying Bacteria Resistant to Last Resort Antibiotics

By Joseph Jankowski

Researchers have found a person inside the United States carrying bacteria resistant to antibiotics of last resort, a development that has top health officials warning that “the end of the road” for antibiotics is nearing.

The Washington Post is reporting that the antibiotic-resistant strain was found last month in the urine of a 49-year-old Pennsylvania woman.

Defense Department researchers determined that she carried a strain of E. coli resistant to the antibiotic Colistin and published their findings on Thursday in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

Colistin is considered an antibiotic of last resort for particularly dangerous types of superbugs like the bacteria known as CRE.

In some instances, these types of superbugs kill up to 50 percent of patients who become infected, reports the Washington Post.

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This is the first instance that a Colistin-resistant strain has been found in a person inside the United States.

“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,” CDC Director Tom Frieden said in an interview Thursday.

“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,” Frieden continued. “This is not where we need to be.”

CDC officials are currently working with Pennsylvania health authorities to interview the patient and family to identify how she may have contracted the bacteria.

This revelation can come as surprise as doctors have been worrying for years that the overuse of antibiotics would breed dangerous mutated illness.

GPs in England cut the amount of antibiotics prescribed to patients over the last year after health officials warned they may be driving an epidemic of superbugs.

Joseph Jankowski is a contributor for Planet Free Will.com. His works have been published by recognizable alternative news sites like GlobalResearch.ca, ActivistPost.com, Mintpressnews.com and ZeroHedge.com. 

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