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American military researchers have identified the first patient in the United States to be infected with bacteria that are resistant to an antibiotic that was the last resort against drug-resistant germs. The patient is well now, but the case raises the specter of superbugs that could cause untreatable infections, because the bacteria can easily transmit their resistance to other germs that are already resistant to additional antibiotics. The resistance can spread because it arises from loose genetic material that bacteria typically share with one another. (Tavernise and Grady, 5/26)

For the first time, researchers have found a person in the United States carrying bacteria resistant to antibiotic of last resort, an alarming development that the top U.S. public health official says could signal "the end of the road" for antibiotics. The antibiotic-resistant strain was found last month in the urine of a 49-year-old Pennsylvania woman. Defense Department researchers determined that she carried a strain of E. coli resistant to the antibiotic colistin, according to a study published Thursday in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, a publication of the American Society for Microbiology. The authors wrote that the discovery "heralds the emergence of a truly pan-drug resistant bacteria." (Sun and Dennis, 5/26)

A 49-year-old Pennsylvania woman has been found carrying a strain of E. coli that is resistant to last-resort antibiotics, which researchers say marks the first appearance of a drug-proof bacteria on U.S. soil. Scientists in Pennsylvania are working with the Centers for Disease Control to find a way to fight the superbug. (5/26)

Now that this resistance gene has shown up in the U.S., it could spread to other germs, creating infections that doctors will have no way to treat. That's already happened in other parts of the world, including China. (Neel, 5/26)

A new superbug that is resistant to the antibiotic of last resort has been spotted in the United States. Twice. US researchers reported Thursday that the mcr-1 gene has been found in E. coli bacteria retrieved from a woman from Pennsylvania. Separately, the US Department of Agriculture reported that the gene had been found in a sample of intestine from a pig. It did not provide further details, though a source told STAT the pig was raised in Texas. (Branswell, 5/26)

Scientist fear an E. coli bacteria with the mcr-1 gene could pass it to another superbug with other mutations-- creating a truly super-superbug that resists all known antibiotics. If such a superbug spread, it would take the world back to a time when there were no antibiotics, says Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Fox, 5/26)

Experts have warned since the 1990s that especially bad superbugs could be on the horizon, but few drugmakers have attempted to develop drugs against them. Frieden said the need for new antibiotics is one of the more urgent health problems, as bugs become more and more resistant to current treatments. "The more we look at drug resistance, the more concerned we are," Frieden added. "The medicine cabinet is empty for some patients. It is the end of the road for antibiotics unless we act urgently." (Pierson and Berkrot, 5/26)