NEW YORK — Researchers are reporting that a fourth U.S. person has been diagnosed with bacteria resistant to a last resort antibiotic, but they are expressing some relief that these superbug precursors have not spread to others.
The latest case is a 2-year-old Connecticut girl who was diagnosed earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday. The Department of Public Health told FOX 61 the girl had traveled to the Caribbean and brought the illness back with her. She fully recovered, and there’s no threat to the public.
It turned out to be a form of E. coli, which three other Americans have been found to have as well. All were resistant to a last-resort medicine called colistin, and health experts worry that the trait could be passed to germs that already resist other antibiotics. Researchers last week reported a worrisome infection in a New Jersey man that could resist colistin and another important antibiotic.
The cases were treatable, however, and the infections did not appear to spread.