Category Archives: KPC

The CDC Report On EBSLs & CREs: Better, If Not Good, News

Posted on April 5, 2018 by mikethemadbiologist

This week, the CDC released a report describing trends in carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (E. coli and relatives that are resistant to all penicillin derivatives, and are also typically resistant to most or all other drugs; CRE) and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase producing organisms … Continue reading →

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The Clinical And Bioinformatic CTX-M Problem

Posted on September 7, 2017 by mikethemadbiologist

We’ll get to what CTX-M is in a bit, but first some biology background. Let’s talk about some game theory carbapenem antibiotics (also referred to as carbapenems): Before we get started, let’s do a quick biology review. A serious health … Continue reading →

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We Don’t Know How Much Resistance Many Antibiotic Resistance Genes Actually Provide

Posted on July 13, 2017 by mikethemadbiologist

This is a problem. At the recent ASM 2017 Microbe meeting (the annual meeting for the American Society for Microbiology), there were many groups, academic, governmental, and industry, trying to use bacterial genomic sequence to predict which antibiotics would be … Continue reading →

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Pleiotropy Might Help Slow The Evolution Of Antibiotic Resistance

Posted on March 9, 2017 by mikethemadbiologist

Well, there’s a silver lining in a recently-discovered dark cloud. Before we get started, let’s do a quick biology review. A serious health problem are carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (‘CRE’)–E. coli and relatives that are resistant to all antibiotics that start with … Continue reading →

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Resistant Bacteria, Possibly Much Deadlier Than We Thought

Posted on October 5, 2016 by mikethemadbiologist

Or as we often say around here, you have to understand the limitations of your data–in this case, hospital records (boldface mine): Sharley McMullen of Manhattan Beach came down with a fever just hours after being wheeled out of a … Continue reading →

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It Sucks To Be This Patient: The Seven CPO Edition

Posted on September 14, 2016 by mikethemadbiologist

It really does for this New Zealand (‘NZ’) patient (boldface mine): Here, we report the isolation of seven distinct CPO [carbapenemase producing organisms–resistant to the last line beta-lactam antibiotics], together with an ESBL-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Proteus mirabilis with an … Continue reading →

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Bacterial Whole Genome Sequencing And The Clinic: The Future Is Almost Here

Posted on August 30, 2016 by mikethemadbiologist

I heard this talk almost a year ago*, so I’m glad this paper is finally out (I’ll translate into English below; boldface mine): The increasing prevalence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria is a serious global challenge. Here, we studied prospectively whether … Continue reading →

Posted in Antibiotics, E. coli, Genomics, KPC, MRSA, NDM-1, Public Health | 1 Comment

Five Percent of D.C.’s Enterobacterial Isolates Are CRE?

Posted on May 4, 2016 by mikethemadbiologist

I’ve discussed before how difficult it is to measure the frequency of CRE (carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae–E. coli and relatives that are usually resistant to all treatment, with the possible exception of colistin). This is, in part, due to a ‘denominator problem’: … Continue reading →

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So Let’s Say We Find a ‘Superbug’ In the Food Supply…

Posted on March 3, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

…now what? When I’m not blogging or fighting crime, one of the things I do is worry (along with some science!) about the spread of antibiotic resistance. The U.S. government has several programs that monitor the spread of antibiotic resistance, … Continue reading →

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More Not-Good News About CREs

Posted on February 19, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

I’m old enough to remember when we used to say things like, “We are nearing a time when we won’t be able to treat infections with any antibiotic.” Well, this report out of Italy tells us that time has arrived … Continue reading →

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