May 16, 2013
Early US NDM isolates show broad resistance
Nine isolates of New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase–producing (NDM) pathogens from eight US patients—among the country's first—were resistant to all beta-lactam antibiotics and carried at least one other beta-lactamase, according to a report in Emerging Infectious Diseases yesterday. State and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers analyzed 5 Klebsiella pneumoniae, 2 Escherichia coli, 1 Enterobacter cloacae, and 1 Salmonella enterica serovar Senftenberg isolates from patients in California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Virginia. The samples were obtained from April 2009 through March 2011, and all patients had recently been in India or Pakistan. The isolates were resistant to beta-lactams, including aztreonam, as well as all commonly used aminoglycosides and fluoroquinolones. One had a novel blaNDM-6 allele. The authors conclude, "The relative ease
with which this resistance mechanism appears to move within and between different bacterial genera, as well as mobility of humans infected or colonized with NDM producers, serves to highlight the need for reliable and rapid means of detecting drug-resistant organisms."
May 15 Emerg Infect Dis report
ECDC notes antibiotic resistance in Campylobacter and Salmonella
European health agencies are still seeing antibiotic resistance in two major foodborne pathogens, Campylobacter and Salmonella, but levels of combined resistance to two key drugs are still low, according to a report today from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Food Safety Authority (ESFA). The report, the third of its kind, includes data collected in 2011 on antimicrobial resistance in zoonotic and indicator bacteria from humans, animals, and food. It found that a high proportion of Campylobacter isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin, but resistance to erythromycin and co-resistance to important antimicrobials remained low.
May 16 ECDC press release,
including link to full report
