Taiwanese doctors have identified a potentially fatal strain of salmonella bacteria that is resistant to two antibiotics widely used to treat serious infections, according to the HealthDay Reporter.
The appearance of the multi-resistant strain “is a serious threat to public health, and thus constant surveillance is warranted,” physicians at the Chang Gung University College of Medicine said.
The salmonella isolated from a 58-year-old Taiwanese man is resistant to both Cipro and Rocephin.
“These are the two powerful modern antibiotics that are used to treat serious cases of salmonella,” said Becky Goldburg, a senior scientist at Environmental Defense, a New York-based group that has crusaded against the use of certain antibiotics in animal feed due to concerns about drug-resistant germs. “When the infection is resistant to them, it is untreatable.”
Because the finding is just one instance of reported multiple resistance, “it is hard to know how common it might be,” Goldburg said. But the fact that Cipro-resistant salmonella quickly became common in Taiwan is not a good sign.