Most news on the dangers of antibiotic-resistant infections focus on adults. But children are very much at risk too. In fact, a recent study found that U.S. children have experienced a 700 percent surge in infections caused by particular bacteria that’s both resistant to multiple antibiotics and responsible for growing numbers of serious bacterial infections in kids.
MCR-1, the easily transferable gene that makes bacteria resistant to last-resort antibiotic colistin, has been found in bacteria from a Pennsylvania woman and in a sample from a pig intestine.
Last month, researchers in China reported on a gene that makes bacteria resistant to a last-ditch antibiotic. Now, researchers have found that gene in other countries. Meanwhile, CDC reports findings on “nightmare bacteria” CRE.
Researchers in China identified a gene that confers resistance to a last-resort antibiotic, and then found that gene in E. coli isolates from raw meat samples, pigs, and 16% of hospital patients with infections.
Best American Science and Nature Writing 2014 features two pieces that remind us how public-health interventions can become less effective if we as a society don’t use them effectively
Reporters investigate the impacts of hydraulic fracturing in Texas; a new poll finds widespread support for “family friendly” workplace policies, including paid sick days and paid family leave; and large-scale hog operations raise environmental concerns in Iowa.
A few recent pieces worth a look
CDC Director Tom Frieden held a press briefing to warn about carapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), which are increasing at an alarming rate.
Researchers have linked the increase in antibiotic-resistant urinary tract infections to the use of antibiotics in livestock. The counterargument that the resistance could have originated in humans in the first place misses the point.