If an enemy threatened the United States with mass casualties possible, Americans would be willing to spend the money and make the sacrifices necessary to confront it.

Well, the country faces such an enemy.

Recently came the news that a patient in the United States carried bacteria resistant to the antibiotic colistin, utilized as a treatment of last resort when all else fails. In the case of the 49-year-old woman, the strain of E. coli she carried did respond to other antibiotics. But scientists say it is only a matter of time before the colistin-
resistant gene spreads to other bacteria already resistant to other antibiotics.

In other words, in time, a patient will arrive in a U.S. hospital with an E.coli that will not respond to any antibiotic, making it a potential killer. Strains of E.Coli can cause severe diarrhea, urinary tract infections and kidney failure.

A high percentage of hospital-acquired infections result from such highly resistant bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci. Such treatment-
resistant infections cause more than 2 million illnesses and at least 23,000 deaths each year in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And things could get worse – much worse. Resistance to antibiotics could lead to the deaths of 10 million people a year globally by 2050, a report commissioned by the British government has warned.

The problem is that bacteria evolve. Antibiotic treatments that were once universally effective are now only partially so, unable to eradicate infections caused by bacteria that have evolved to survive the attack.

Overuse of antibiotics has expedited the growth of resistant strains. Unsure whether an infection is viral (and unresponsive to antibiotics) or bacterial, doctors will often prescribe an antibiotic. The more overuse, the more rapidly the little buggers gain resistance. The failure to take a full regimen of antibiotics leaves behind the toughest bugs, more resistant to later treatment and ready to spread to other individuals.

The wide prophylactic use of antibiotics in farm animals, also found to boost their weight, give bacteria the chance to develop resistance. The European Union has banned the practice. The U.S. should follow suit.

Serious consideration should be given to providing financial rewards – tax breaks or outright grants – to get pharmaceutical companies to invest in developing new antibiotics. There is no profit incentive in such research. A patient needs an antibiotic for only a few days until the infection clears. And doctors are encouraged to use new, less resistant antibiotics as little as possible, to delay the time they become ineffective.

This is a war humankind can’t afford to lose, because right now the bacteria are gaining the upper hand.

– The Day

New London, Conn.

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