The Nightmare Bacteria That Could Be Difficult To Contain
Antibiotics are considered to be miracle drugs and have helped to make a healthier society. The problem we face now is the overuse of these drugs and this situation has led us to a very dangerous predicament. On top of this, Big pharma has cut research on super bacteria, mainly because of low financial returns. In the meantime, these super bacteria have infiltrated many hospitals in large cities across the United States and are becoming resistant to the antibiotics we have in use.
Make no mistake; this is a very real threat and is only going to get worse. Big pharma has decided in the last few years that this area of research is not profitable enough to continue. And to make matters worse, the federal government does not really have a cohesive plan should a catastrophe surface.
Frontline has an episode dedicated to the topic: Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria. This episode is an eyeopener and should be observed.
As the video reveals, a major group of gram-negative bacteria are relevant and stubborn. Stenotrophomonas and Klebsiella pneumoniae (KPC) are a couple of resistant strains.
NDM-1 is an enzyme that makes bacteria resistant to a broad range of antibiotics. It is hardy and very difficult to control. NDM-1 is now in the United States and is potentially very dangerous.
Outbreaks of super bacteria have occurred, causing the deaths of numerous patients.
