MCR-1
lborkowski | August 1, 2016Last year, researchers identified a gene that confers resistance to "last-resort" antibiotic colistin. They found it in several E. coli isolates in China, and it didn't take long for other researchers around the world to find the same gene, mcr-1, in stored samples once they started looking for it. Researchers have now found mcr-1 in isolates from 32 countries.
The US wasn't among the initial list of countries finding mcr-1, but it didn't take long for that to change. In May, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research scientists reported finding mcr-1 in E. coli cultured from the urine of a…
milhayser | June 14, 2016The first observation of a bacterial gene called MCR-1 in the United States has scientists worried, if not surprised. The gene provides resistance to colistin, an antibiotic with nasty side effects used to combat multidrug-resistant bacteria. On Aetiology, Tara C. Smith writes "colistin has seen a new life in the last decade or so as a last line of defense against some of these almost-untreatable infections." But now, bacteria wielding MCR-1 threaten to leave humans defenseless. On The Pump Handle, Liz Borkowski explains "MCR-1 is of particular concern because it’s carried on a plasmid, a…
lborkowski | June 1, 2016Back in November, researchers from China reported finding a gene that confers resistance to the last-resort antibiotic colistin in several E. coli isolates, and warned that pan-drug resistant Enterobacteriaceae -- a family of bacteria that includes common foodborne illness culprits E. coli and Salmonella -- "is inevitable and will ultimately become global." As researchers in other countries began examining stored isolates for the gene, MCR-1, they found it. STAT's Helen Branswell reports it "has been found in many European countries, parts of Asia, North Africa, South America, and North…