Unsettling Case of Colistin-, Carbapenem-Resistant P. aeruginosa in Canada

Abstract

The first North American instance of an individual infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa that is resistant to colistin and also carries the resistance gene NDM-1 was documented last year, according to Johann Pitout of the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and his collaborators elsewhere in Canada and in South Africa. Importantly, that isolated case illustrates “the need for appropriate infection prevention and control measures and vigilant screening for carbapenem resistant gram-negative bacteria in patients with a history of travel to endemic areas, such as the Indian subcontinent,” they note. Details of appeared 11 January 2016 in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (doi:10.1128/AAC.02591–15).