Superbug's strong drug-resistance gene discovered by Chinese and foreign scientists

Chinese and foreign researchers have recently discovered in livestock and humans a "superbug" gene capable of resisting powerful antibiotics, which means the "last line of defense" among the antibiotics used by humans risks being breached. The researchers called for greater efforts to control antibiotic misuse.

The research was jointly conducted by Chinese and foreign researchers including Liu Jianhua of South China Agricultural University, Shen Jianzhong of China Agricultural University, and Dr. Jim Spencer of the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, among others. The results were published in the latest issue of the British journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

By analyzing bacterial samples collected from pork, chicken and human patients, the researchers found that a special gene, MCR-1, exists; bacteria carrying this gene show strong resistance to colistin, and this resistance can also be rapidly transferred to other strains.

Compared with bacterial samples collected from animals, the positive proportion in bacterial samples from humans was relatively low. The researchers speculated that MCR-1 resistance to colistin may have originated in animals but has begun to spread to humans. Given the widespread use of colistin in agriculture and livestock farming at present, several researchers suggested that all unnecessary use of colistin should be limited as much as possible.

The researchers believe that although the discovery of MCR-1 is currently limited to China, the gene is very likely to spread worldwide like other drug-resistance genes. They therefore called for the urgent establishment of a global collaborative mechanism to deal with drug-resistant bacteria and to carry out close cooperation in monitoring and research.