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Discovery of the gene MCR-1 was first reported in The Lancet in November. Chinese scientists reported they found it on 260 samples of E. coli from patients, meat and livestock. The report said the gene was “currently confined to China,” but could spread easily around the globe.

Scientists around the world subsequently went looking for it in archived samples and have found it — including now in Canada.

Allen said 1,600 bacteria samples from across Canada were looked at, but the only ones containing MCR-1 were the three found in Ontario, including the Ottawa patient.

Canada, like other countries, has launched a national initiative to prevent microbial resistance, said Allen, led by the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Members of the public, she said, also have to help by not asking for antibiotics for viral infections, and using antibiotics properly when they are needed.

“The challenge for all of us is it is one of those things you don’t see until the train has already left the station.”

Toye said hospitals and labs must also do everything they can, including identifying cases of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and maintaining good infection control in hospitals, such as isolating infected patients and maintaining proper hand hygiene.

Matthew Gilmour, scientific director of the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, said for the majority of patients, the existence of a gene that can make bacteria resistant to colistin should not be a threat as long as other antibiotics still work.

“For the majority of patients there will be a full suite of other antibiotics that should be effective for their infections. The worry is when all those others are off the menu and all you are left with is colistin and maybe not even colistin.”

Gilmour said he thinks Canada does a good job of limiting agricultural use of antibiotics, which are widely used in some other countries.

epayne@postmedia.com