Posing a global threat from an epidemic, a new study by researchers of China has warned that resistant bacteria may have infringed the last line of antibiotic defence humans have left against the deadly 'superbugs'.
Researchers found a gene, mcr-1, that enables bacteria to gene, mcr-1, that enables bacteria to be highly resistant to polymyxins -the last line of antibiotic defence we have left, is widespread in Enterobacteriaceae taken from pigs and patients in China. The mcr-1 gene was found on plasmids, mobile DNA that can be easily copied and transferred between different bacteria, suggesting an alarming po tential to spread and diversify between different bacterial populations.
"Our results reveal the emergence of the first polymyxin resistance gene that is readily pas sed between common bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Klesbsiella pneumoniae, suggesting that the progression from extensive drug resistance to pandrug resistance is inevitable," said study author Jian-Hua Liu.
Researchers also found that the mcr-1 gene has the potential to spread into other epidemic pathogenic bacterial species such as K pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which can cause a variety of diseases from pneumonia to blood infections. This suggests that mcr-1 is likely to extend rapidly into human pathogens.
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