‘Invincible’ bacteria threatens global epidemic

Paris – Medicine’s final line of defense against deadly disease has been breached, raising the specter of a global epidemic, scientists say, after finding bacteria resistant to last-resort antibiotics. The discovery could herald a virtual return to the Dark Ages, with doctors unable to control common germs like E. Coli, rolling back centuries of medical progress. “These are extremely worryingly results,’’ said Liu Jian-Hua, a professor at China’s Southern Agricultural University and co-author of a new study. Liu and his colleagues found a gene, called MCR-1 that allows bacteria to become resistant to a class of antibiotics known as polymoxins, which are used to fight superbugs. The gene, which was detected in common but deadly bacteria such as E. Coli and K. Pneumoniae — the cause of pneumonia and blood diseases — effectively makes bacteria invincible. Most worryingly of all, the gene is easily spread from one strain to another, [...]