Common bacteria ‘could be set to develop into superbugs soon’

US researchers have warned that a family of bacteria responsible for a significant portion of hospital-associated infections could soon develop into antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

A team from Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis have identified two genes – KPC and NDM-1 – that confer resistance against a particularly strong class of antibiotics that could be easily shared among bacteria frequently implicated in respiratory and urinary infections in hospital settings.

The antibiotic category at risk are known as carbapenems, which are supposed to be used only in seriously ill patients or those infected by resistant bacteria.

Given the threat that KPC and NDM-1 pose, it could be more important than ever for the use of carbapenems to be strictly limited to cases in which no other treatments can help.

Senior author Dr Gautam Dantas, associate professor of pathology and immunology, said: "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."

Antimicrobial resistance has been flagged as a public health emergency in the UK and nationwide, with increasing efforts being made to limit antibiotic use to preserve their efficacy for as long as possible.