Escherichia coli in the news and not in a good way - from Reuters:
U.S. sees first case of bacteria resistant to all antibiotics
U.S. health officials on Thursday reported the first case in the country of a patient with an infection resistant to all known antibiotics, and expressed grave concern that the superbug could pose serious danger for routine infections if it spreads.
"We risk being in a post-antibiotic world," said Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, referring to the urinary tract infection of a 49-year-old Pennsylvania woman who had not travelled within the prior five months.
Frieden, speaking at a National Press Club luncheon in Washington, D.C., said the infection was not controlled even by colistin, an antibiotic that is reserved for use against "nightmare bacteria."
Not good news at all - we use antibiotics regularly in our domestic food livestock and over-prescribe them for ourselves. This heightens the chances for the bugs to develop resistance. The same E. coli has been found in China but not here and the patient had not traveled recently.
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