A bug believed to be resistant to antibiotic, causes death

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report said the infection was “resistant to all available antimicrobial drugs”.

The women had repeatedly needed hospital treatment in India after breaking her right leg. An infection got into the bone and then spread to her hip.

She was seriously ill when she arrived in a US hospital – her immune system was going into overdrive in an attempt to fight the infection causing inflammation throughout her body.

This escalated and ultimately she died from septic shock.
Samples of the infection taken from the wound were sent to the CDC for testing.

They showed she was infected with Klebsiella pneumoniae – which normally lives in the gut without causing disease.

The analysis found the superbug was resistant to all 26 available antibiotics in the US including the “drug of last resort” – colistin.
Global travel factor

The CDC said: “[Infections] that are resistant to all antimicrobials are very uncommon.”

But the case remains a warning of the dangers of what the CDC calls untreatable “nightmare bacteria”.

Some scientists have argued we are on the cusp of the “post-antibiotic era” with cases like this in Nevada becoming more frequent.

Dr David Brown, chief scientist at Antibiotic Research UK, said: “It is still quite unusual for a bacterial infection to be resistant to such a large number of antibiotics.

“Fortunately it is an extreme case, but it may soon become all too common.

“It happened because of her personal history of multiple hospitalisations in India, however, the ease of global travel does mean that such cases will increase.”