A new contagion - drug resistant bacteria in the wild

Under the microscope - MRSA

Health authorities, medical research institutions and pharmaceutical companies across the world have, for several years, been concerned with the increase of drug resistant bacteria materialising in hospitals, primary health care facilities and in geographic regions where there is a measurable level of social/economic deprivation. In fact, the increase of medically acquired infections in hospitals has led to changes in clinical pathways with an emphasis on discharging patients to their homes for recuperation as quickly as possible to avoid continued hospital stays and the heightened risk of infection. There has always been a question as to the degree of spread which may occur given diseases such drug resistant malaria and drug resistant tuberculosis already exist in regional and urban environments. The so-termed and best known superbug, MRSA or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus continues to be a menace in hospitals and nursing homes.

Research from the Antarctic coast has shown that a quarter of the samples of seawater taken from locations close to Chile's research stations on the ice continent contained e-coli bacteria with genes which produce an enzyme which can destroy most antibiotics (such as penicillin, cephalosoporins etc).  The enzyme, ESBL is found mainly in people and the bacteria appear to be able to survive in the wild without their hosts. How long will it be before this situation leads to wildlife in the region becoming a reservoir for the drug resistant superbugs?