In an increasing world of antibiotic resistance, it is crucial for the public and health care providers to be conscious and educated about when they should/can be used and when they cannot. Like we mentioned in class this week, antibiotics are a miracle drug and unfortunately many strains of bacteria we used to be able to treat are becoming antibiotic resistant. One of these growing antibiotic resistant bacteria on its way to becoming a superbug is Klebsiella pneumonia Carbapenamase (KPC). In a study conducted by Sapkota et al and published in “Scientific Research” identified that out of their infected patient population, 60% had bacteremia and 100% had already been treated with higher antibiotics like Carbapenams. In their study, only 9 out of 15 patients could be treated and discharged.
Their studies pointed more broadly to an emerging pan drug epidemic. KPC is considered a multi-drug resistant (MDR) organism on its way to becoming a super bug and identified as an urgent threat to human health by the World Health Organization and CDC. As we discussed in class, a super bug is a strain of bacteria that has become resistant to all antibiotics, and can transfer its resistance via horizontal gene transfer to other bacteria. In KPC, the gene it carries for its MDR is the ST-258 gene which carries resistance to carbapenamases and is responsible for several recent outbreaks in various countries. Carbapenamases are able to cleave the carbapenam B-lactam rings our antibiotics use to kill bacteria. With no B-lactam ring, antibiotics are useless to KPC.
KPC is not the only emerging super bug, but just one among many. A recent article published by the NIH, “Death from pan-resistant super bug,” explains how Acinetobacter baumannii has also emerged as a pan-resistant super bug causing fatal infections to vulnerable populations, especially those in the hospital. This past year, a patient died of this now pan-resistant bacteria due to a fatal pneumonia caused by the resistance to antibiotics. The article further explains that the pathogenicity is not due to virulence factors, but rather its resistance to antibiotics and ability to persist on surfaces of beds, curtains, walls, medical devices, and hand sanitizers. The emergence of these super bugs have caused intense research but it seems to me like the bacteria are able to spread resistance, especially in hospital settings, faster than we are able to counter them. In this situation, prevention is ideal but seems impossible because society as a whole is doing things to promote their resistance.
Microbiology, Get Cultured! 