Abstract

COETZEE, J et al. Emergence of plasmid-mediated colistin resistance (MCR-1) among Escherichia coli isolated from South African patients. SAMJ, S. Afr. med. j. [online]. 2016, vol.106, n.5, pp.449-450. ISSN 2078-5135.  http://dx.doi.org/10.7196/samj.2016.v106i5.10710.

The polymyxin antibiotic colistin is an antibiotic of last resort for the treatment of extensively drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria, including carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae. The State of the World's Antibiotics report in 2015 highlighted South Africa (SA)'s increasing incidence of these 'superbugs' (3.2% of Klebsiella pneumoniae reported from SA were carbapenemase producers), and in doing so, underscored SA's increasing reliance on colistin as a last line of defence. Colistin resistance effectively renders such increasingly common infections untreatable.

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