‘Superbug’ bacteria affect two million people and kill at least 23,000 Americans every year.

A regular bacterium, ‘bug,’ becomes a ‘superbug’ by resisting a round or more of antibiotics, which causes the ‘bug’ to proliferate.

The more antibiotics that are taken by a patient, the more chances the bacteria have to become resistant to the seven major classes of modern antibiotics.

Colistin is a powerful antibiotic that has traditionally been used as a last resort treatment against treacherous ‘superbugs.’ However, last November scientists in China found bacteria with colistin resistance on the mcr-1 gene in a plasmid, a circular DNA strand that can be transferred to and used by other bacteria to spread antibiotic resistance.

Recently, a 49-year-old woman in Pennsylvania came into the clinic with a urinary tract infection, but she was the first case in the U.S. to harbor Escherichia coli with the mcr-1 gene.

Another interesting aspect is that she did not travel over seas in the past five months, which raises concern for the medical community because this plasmid could spread to other bacteria that may be resistant for other antibiotic classes in the U.S. and that could cause massive numbers of illness and death.

A team of researchers from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research reported on the case in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Pennsylvania Department of Health are working on the case to try to trace the origin of the bacteria and to prevent any possible spread.

They would like to track the bacteria to see its whereabouts in the environment and to ascertain if anyone else has been infected.

Furthermore, the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) and HHS (Department of Health and Human Services) have searched for colistin-resistant bacteria in food animals and people, which has led to the discovery of colistin-resistant E. coli in a single sample from a pig intestine.

How worried should we be?

Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem; however, this is only the beginning of the discovery of ‘superbugs.’

Physicians are very concerned because medicine is currently at its limit to fight bacteria with the mcr-1 gene that may also have resistance to other antibiotics, creating a potentially unstoppable ‘superbug.’

How can you protect yourself?

Overuse of antibiotics can cause mutations to occur in the DNA of bacteria, which could cause the bacteria to gain resistance.

If you do get sick, be sure to ask your physician if an antibiotic course is truly necessary, and if it is recommended then make sure to take the full course that at the appropriate dosage for you.

Ask your physician for an antibiotic that is specific to your bacteria because broad-spectrum should be saved for more complicated cases.

Also, washing your hands and ensuring that your vaccinations are up to date are some of the best ways to prevent diseases in the first place.

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Patrick McGann et al. Escherichia coli Harboring mcr-1 and blaCTX-M on a Novel IncF Plasmid: First report of mcr-1 in the USA. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother., published online May 26, 2016; doi: 10.1128/AAC.01103-16