Antibiotic resistance is poised to spread globally among bacteria frequently implicated in respiratory and urinary infections in hospital settings, according to new research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. The study shows that two genes that confer resistance against a particularly strong class of antibiotics can be shared easily among a family of bacteria responsible for a significant portion of hospital-associated infections. Drug-resistant germs in the same family of bacteria recently infected several patients at two Los Angeles hospitals. The infections have been linked to medical scopes believed to have been contaminated with bacteria that can resist carbapenems, potent antibiotics that are supposed to be used only in gravely ill patients or those infected by resistant bacteria. "Carbapenems are one of our last resorts for treating bacterial infections, what we use when nothing else works," said senior author Gautam Dantas, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pathology and Immunology at Washington University. "Given what we know now, I don't think it's overstating the case to say that for certain types of infections, we may be looking at the start of the post-antibiotic era, a time when most of the antibiotics we rely on to treat bacterial infections are no longer effective." Dr. Dantas and other experts recommend strictly limiting the usage of carbapenems to cases in which no other treatments can help. The study, conducted by researchers at Washington University, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, and the National University of Sciences and Technology in Pakistan, is currently available online in an open-access article in the June 2015 issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases (http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/21/6/14-1504_article).Login Or Register To Read Full Story