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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.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 20 2015, @03:32PM
Historically, hygiene has won the war over microbes.
There is a difference between hygiene and washing your whole body with anti-septic soap. You know how most of these soaps advertise, "kills 99% of bacteria."? Well what they're not telling you is that 99% of that 99% is actually beneficial or harmless bacteria. You know what is left in that 1% that it doesn't kill? The worst of the worst. And now that worst of the worst is free to colonise all that skin surface that would have previously been occupied by good or harmless bacteria. Using anti-bacterial soap, unless it is for a short duration, for a specific condition is fucking retarded and it does breed super bugs.
Once that stupid mother fucker catches himself a nasty skin infection because he essentially killed off his body's natural defence against the bad bugs, what do you think he is going to do? Yeah he's going to take anti-biotics for it. BAM! anti-biotic resistant super bug because some stupid shit conflates hygiene with bacterial genocide.
Just look at what happened to Henry VIIIs son. Any zero tolerance attitude towards hygiene and bacteria is just looking for trouble. Our immune system is not just T cells, it is also made up of a large host of beneficial and harmless bacteria.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 23 2015, @04:11PM
What did happen to Henry VIII's son?