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posted by cmn32480 on Friday November 20 2015, @02:56AM   Printer-friendly
from the ruh-roh dept.

The BBC reports that the world is on the cusp of a 'post-antibiotic era'. A new mutation of bacteria in China has something "dubbed the MCR-1 gene", that prevented colistin - the antibiotic of last resort - from killing bacteria.

Chinese scientists identified a new mutation, dubbed the MCR-1 gene, that prevented colistin from killing bacteria.

The report in the Lancet Infectious Diseases showed resistance in a fifth of animals tested, 15% of raw meat samples and in 16 patients.

[...] Resistance to colistin has emerged before. However, the crucial difference this time is the mutation has arisen in a way that is very easily shared between bacteria.

There's plenty to blame - pumping livestock full of them for "preventative measures", doctors prescribing them for colds and flus, and people not finishing a course when they are prescribed them - but the future currently looks bleak.


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  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday November 20 2015, @04:38AM

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday November 20 2015, @04:38AM (#265650) Journal
    in the Lancet [thelancet.com] - a little bit more than just the abstract for free, but the full text is paygated.
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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Yog-Yogguth on Friday November 20 2015, @05:58AM

    by Yog-Yogguth (1862) Subscriber Badge on Friday November 20 2015, @05:58AM (#265681) Journal

    [Maybe others will do better but this is what I've got, also a big thank you to isostatic for submitting this story and saving me work, I'd much rather make a comment or two than write submissions, so much easier for me at least :D ].

    There's also a press release [medicalxpress.com] that is quite good (from the Lancet I suppose but that's a tiny bit unclear).

    In the future (half a year, a year, something like that) it might be available at any of the pages of the authors like for example this one [cf.ac.uk] (just an example).

    There's also Library Genesis [lib.rus.ec] but I've searched and couldn't find it but that might be because it's still too recent.

    While it would be safe to guess that most won't I was pleasantly surprised to discover I got the full paper (PDF 1.4 MB) [thelancet.com] for "free" (not really, it's paid through taxes) directly from the Lancet Infectious Disease journal and others might as well so give the link a try (at worst you'll be redirected to the abstract) and wow do I wish I could get the same for anything else as well (but actually free) with the same ease and without jumping through any hoops/going to a library/going to a university/using credentials etc. However those are free options available to a lot of people although it can be a real pain in the ass to have to do it (I don't think I've ever bothered to go out of my way to do so). I'm guessing the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and the National Natural Science Foundation of China haven't gotten into the Open Access [wikipedia.org] thing yet (or was too influenced by the Lancet's reputation to not pay Elsevier for publishing under the brand name).

    I guess the DW [dw.com] reporting is the best and the RT [rt.com] one isn't too bad (or at least as good/bad as the BBC) but they're all written from the same angle with a focus on bad (effects) rather than good (knowledge).

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    • (Score: 3, Informative) by martyb on Saturday November 21 2015, @12:19AM

      by martyb (76) Subscriber Badge on Saturday November 21 2015, @12:19AM (#266022) Journal

      Thanks for the links! Unfortunately, I was unable to directly access the Lancet pdf link you provided. On the other hand, thanks to your links, I came upon this:

      "The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy and Antibiotic Action have released an official response to the the The Lancet article titled, “Emergence of plasmid-mediated colistin resistance mechanism MCR-1 in animals and human beings in China: a microbiological and molecular biological study”, published on 18 November 2015.

      Which can be accessed at this link on The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy [bsac.org.uk] I found the response to be eminently readable and non-sensationalist. Further, these passages seemed especially significant:

      As this week is World Antibiotic Awareness Week, the timing of publication could not be more appropriate. The finding that this type of resistance can be shared by different bacteria, irrespective of whether from food, an animal or a person is further evidence that the same drugs should not be used in veterinary and human medicine. All use of polymyxins must be minimised as soon as possible and all unnecessary use stopped.

      [...] For those interested in the global effort against AMR may wish to look at the supplement about antibiotic-resistance published in the UK Newspaper, The Independent on November 18th 2015 [globalhealthaction.co.uk].

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      • (Score: 2) by Yog-Yogguth on Saturday November 21 2015, @04:51PM

        by Yog-Yogguth (1862) Subscriber Badge on Saturday November 21 2015, @04:51PM (#266233) Journal

        Thanks!

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