'Super Bacteria' That Resists all Types of Antibiotics Discovered in the UK

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Superbugs, or bacteria which have very high levels of resistance to antibiotics, have already been discovered for some time now. This time, this bacteria that are able to resist the last line of antibiotic defense have been found in U.K.

BBC reported that, according to officials, the threat that these bacteria pose to humans are low, but is currently undergoing review.

Maryn McKenna, from the National Geographic, said that MCR, the resistance factor that gives these superbugs resistance against the last resort antibiotic Colistin, has been making a lot of news lately.

First, it was reported in China that the gene “mcr-1” was found in pigs, meat and hospital patients. It was then found that the gene was able to move easily among bacteria.

Then, it was also identified in Malaysia and Portugal. Researchers in Denmark also realized it had been present in the country since 2012.

Now, it has been found in U.K. in humans, farm animals and meat. Researchers recently revealed that the people who were unknowingly carrying the gene were actually healthy and that the number of countries that will detect MCR will be increasing soon.

Daily Mail reported that, although UK public health officials say that the current health risk is low and that the MCR-carrying bacteria can be killed when the meat containing it is thoroughly cooked, a looming danger for British families is still implied by the urgent review that is currently ongoing.

British chief medical officer Professor Dame Sally Davies said last year that the danger that antibiotic resistance brings is a real threat.

“If we don't act now, any one of us could go into hospital in 20 years for minor surgery and die because of an ordinary infection that can't be treated by antibiotics,” Dame Sally said at the time. “And routine operations like hip replacements or organ transplants could be deadly because of the risk of infection.”

Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics, the group responsible for revealing that the super bacteria is already in Britain, claimed that the rise in bacterial antibiotic resistance is caused by the rampant use of Colistin in the mass medication of farms.

They said that, annually, human medicine only consumes an average of 300 kg of Colistin, compared to 837 kg used for British farm animals.

To this, Alliance scientific advisor Cóilín Nunan said that the use of Colistin in U.K. farms should be banned as soon as possible. He added that the government, European Commission and other regulatory bodies should work on banning its use immediately.