Bacteria with worrisome superbug genes found in U.S.
While patient treated successfully, researchers say bacterium has the potential to become powerful superbug
Researchers said the strain of bacteria was found in a76-year-old man who was treated in 2014 for a complicatedurinary tract infection. Further analysis in 2016 showed thebacterium carried mcr-1, a gene that creates resistance to thelast-ditch antibiotic colistin. It was also shown to carryblaNDM-5, a gene that blocks effectiveness of carbapenems, whichare considered medicine's most reliable current antibiotics nowthat bacteria have found ways of outwitting other families ofantibiotics.
Although the patient was treated successfully with otherantibiotics, researchers said the bacterium had the potential tospread and become a powerful superbug.