superbug, antibiotic resistance, CDC

The CDC is sounding the alarm about a superbug that has reached the United States. This is something we all need to take seriously.

A 49 year old Pennsylvania woman showed up at a clinic with signs of a urinary tract infection, but she had something much more concerning. She is the first American to be diagnosed with a bacteria that can’t be treated with colistin, the last resort of antibiotics. Worse than that, this bacteria has the ability to spread colistin resistance to other bacteria. It can make other bacteria resistant to antibiotics too. This is a nightmare!

This superbug has shown up in other countries, but this is the first time the Center for Disease Control is battling it on US soil.

Antibiotics are often seen as being overused. This has caused some superbugs to be immune to antibiotics. When you need antibiotics and they don’t do their job, you can be in real trouble.

Check out the video below for more information on why this is scary.


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“It basically shows us that the end of the road isn’t very far away for antibiotics — that we may be in a situation where we have patients in our intensive-care units, or patients getting urinary tract infections for which we do not have antibiotics,” CDC Director Tom Frieden said.

The best thing we can do is not take antibiotics when we don’t need them.

Please share this to warn other people about this superbug!

H/T: Washington Post

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