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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 HiThere on Friday November 20 2015, @07:01PM

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Friday November 20 2015, @07:01PM (#265911) Journal

    Phage therapy isn't it. It's a reasonable choice to antibiotics not working, but it's not a targeted antigen to a particular gene. CRISPR is closeer, but that's not a treatment, but rather a technique. Monoclonal antibodies are a related approach, but still not the same thing. And I can't think of the name either...I've only heard of it existing a couple of times, so it's probably only used in labs.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 20 2015, @08:30PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 20 2015, @08:30PM (#265957)

    I think the grandparent was just talking about DNA vaccination, but you might be thinking of DNA or RNA aptamers.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptamer#Nucleic_Acid_aptamers [wikipedia.org]