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London — New research suggests a worrying number of people in
China may be infected with bacteria resistant to an antibiotic used as a last
resort.
Researchers
examined more than 17 000 samples from patients with infections of common
bacteria found in the gut, in two hospitals in China’s Zhejiang and Guangdong
provinces, over eight years. About 1 percent of those samples were resistant to
colistin, often considered the last option in antibiotics.
The
study, published Friday in the Lancet journal, is one of the first to document
the extent of drug-resistant infections in more than one Chinese province.
For
decades, China has used colistin in its agriculture industry to speed animals’
growth, but the drug was not used in people. Scientists say the latest work is
further evidence that overuse in animals can spread to people. Chinese
officials earlier this year approved colistin for use in hospitals, raising
fears that it could worsen the resistance problem.
« It
will be very important to ration its use so that it’s only used when absolutely
nothing else will work, » said Mark Enright, a professor of medical
microbiology at Manchester Metropolitan University, who was not part of the
research.
Health
officials have long worried that colistin-resistant bacteria might spread more
widely, setting the stage for superbug infections that would theoretically be
impervious to medications. Only a small number of such cases worldwide have
been detected, including in the US.
Rising
concerns over drug-resistant germs have prompted the United Nations to
encourage countries to cut back on antibiotic use and develop new medicines.
People
infected with these resistant strains can usually be treated with current
antibiotics, but doctors warn that as these bacteria — which are already
untreatable with last-resort drugs — acquire resistance to current drugs, the
infections may become impossible to treat.
Experts
also noted a surprise: the apparent ease with which the resistant gene spread
between bacteria, including different species of bugs.
« It
now looks like there’s potential for the resistance gene to move around and
spread between different species of bacteria, » said Nigel Brown, a
spokesman for Britain’s Microbiology Society, adding that it could lead to a
jump in infections.
In a
separate study also published in the Lancet, another group of Chinese
researchers analysed samples from
patients with blood infections at 28 hospitals. About 1% had the
colistin-resistant gene — a much higher figure than would be expected in developed
countries.
Colistin’s
use in hospitals should be restricted to avoid problems, said Yunsong Yu, one
of the study’s authors.
« This
is a warning shot about the possible scenario where we don’t have very much
left in the armoury to treat (bacterial)
infections, » said Brown. « I don’t think we are very close to that
happening, but it is a remote possibility if we aren’t careful about how we use
our antibiotics. »
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