By Andrew Schmertz
Correspondent
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Ted Louie says nasty bacteria — with names like MRSA, CRE and E. coli — are outsmarting modern medicine.
“A superbug to us is a bacteria that is resistant to normal, conventional antibiotics,” said Louie, infectious disease specialist at Saint Peter’s University Hospital.
That’s what was discovered in a Pennsylvania woman last month. The unidentified woman became the first known U.S. patient with an infection that did not respond to even last-resort antibiotics.
“It’s an antibiotic resistant strain of E. coli. Her personal health care information has been kept close to the vest,” said former FDA Associate Commissioner Peter Pitts. “This is an issue that’s arisen in China where they’ve been given antibiotics to chickens quite significantly and that’s not what’s happening in the U.S. In the U.S. livestock manufacturers and raisers have stopped giving their stock antibiotics for any other reason beyond health reasons. So, this has been an issue in Europe and China and now the issue has reached our shores.”
The Army’s Walter Reed Medical Center confirmed the deadly strain of the bacteria. The patient is said to be recovering but has a long road ahead.
In many ways, these superbugs got their start in your own home medicine cabinet. Decades of over prescribing antibiotics, specialists say, has led to bacteria stronger than modern science.
And while doctors are being educated about not over prescribing the drugs, science is not keeping up on new ones.
“One of the big problems is antibiotics they’re not many in development, so there’s not a lot of money in it. In the last 10 years there’s just been a handful of new antibiotics. Part of the problem is our technology is not catching up to the bacteria and we’re falling behind,” Louie said.
Surprisingly, the number one place you get superbugs — visiting someone in the hospital. So doctors recommend you immediately shower afterwards. And if your personal doctor prescribes an antibiotic, ask if you really need it.