- Woman in her 70s was admitted to a Reno, Nevada hospital in August
- She had fractured her thigh bone in India, which became infected
- Tests revealed no antibiotic in the United States could treat the infection
- The woman died of septic shock two weeks later, a new CDC report reveals
Mia De Graaf For Dailymail.com
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A Nevada woman has been killed by a superbug that proved resistant to every antibiotic available in the US, a new report reveals.
Doctors tried to cure the 70-year-old patient with 26 antibiotics after she was admitted to an acute care hospital in mid-August 2016.
But nothing stood up against the aggressive bacteria.
She died two weeks later of septic shock.
The unprecedented case, revealed in the CDC’s Morbidity And Mortality Report on Thursday, comes amid growing fears about antibiotic resistance.
Doctors tried to cure the 70-year-old patient with 26 antibiotics after she was admitted to an acute care hospital in mid-August 2016. But nothing stood up against the aggressive bacteria
Four other patients were treated in the US for antibiotic resistance in 2016.
But this case proved pivotal for the agency.
The woman was admitted to a hospital in Reno, Nevada, after an extended trip in India.
During her trip, she fractured her right thigh bone.
Over the course of a number of hospital visits in India, this developed into an infection of the right hip and thigh bone, leaving her in incredible pain.
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When the woman reached Nevada it became immediately clear to doctors that the woman was infected with a CRE – carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae.
CREs – referred to by CDC director Dr Tom Frieden as ‘nightmare bacteria’ – are a kind of gut bacteria that are resistant to last-resort antibiotics called carbapenems.
In a desperate bid to save her, doctors sent samples of the woman’s CRE to the CDC.
Tests revealed the bacteria contained New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase (NDM), an enzyme that makes superbugs resistant to many antibiotics.
‘It was tested against everything that’s available in the United States … and was not effective,’ Dr Alexander Kallen, one of the report’s authors told Stat News.
‘I think it’s concerning. We have relied for so long on just newer and newer antibiotics. But obviously the bugs can often [develop resistance] faster than we can make new ones,’ he added.
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