CDC finds “nightmare bacteria” a growing threat across the U.S.

Up to 27 states are reporting cases of a breed of “nightmare bacteria” with new or rare antibiotic-resistant genes.  This unsettling news is according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  A new program for testing suspect bacteria is what found and turned up unusual antibiotic-resistant genes 221 times in 2017. 

For years, the CDC has warned of the possibility of antibiotic-resistant bacteria which now appears to have true.  This particular strain of bacteria is considered to be virtually untreatable having the power to spread genes that make them unable to be affected by most antibiotics. 

People who are most vulnerable to this nightmare bacteria are the elderly and anyone with chronic illnesses, as up to 50 percent of those with the infection succumb to death.

These nightmare bacteria can evolve quickly, developing mutations that let them evade the effects of antibiotics.  If not stopped, they will spread.  This has already happened several times in the U.S. – when one superbug gives new powers to a different superbug, the result can be an infection that is impossible to treat.

Currently the CDC is working hard to have an aggressive approach in getting in front of the spread of this bacteria before it becomes commonplace.  There is already up to 2 million Americans who get sick each year from bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics with about 23,000 people who die from them.

This strain labeled “nightmare bacteria” is considered to be the worst of the worst.  There are already certain bacterial genes that are a worry to scientists in the fact they are harder to treat.  Many of these genes can be found in patients which are spreading throughout hospitals and health care facilities.

The difficulty of keeping track of and then rendering these bacteria is that once they start to spread, they go like wildfire.  And just like wildfires are often started with a small spark, scientists are doing everything they can to put out that spark before these new and unusual types of bacteria have a chance to spread.

What it will take to extinguish the threat these nightmare bacteria pose is to develop new and aggressive policies to stop them in their tracks.  Inappropriate overuse of antibiotics is and has been a major factor in where infections from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) to killer Clostridium difficile