The Enemy Within.

DRUG resistance in microorganisms; MICROBIAL genetics; GRAM-negative bacteria; GRAM-negative bacterial diseases; KLEBSIELLA pneumoniae; ANTIBIOTICS; PUBLIC health; CARBAPENEMS; BACTERIAL genetics; BACTERIAL disease treatment

The examines the pattern of antibiotic resistance that is spreading around the world and the dangers to public health. According to the author, a pattern of resistance has emerged among a group of bacteria, called gram-negative bacteria, that threatens to render common infections untreatable. Topics include an overview of research on a strain of the bacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae that contained a previously undetected gene, which caused it to be resistance to the antibiotics commonly used to treat Klebsiella infections, the concern among scientists regarding gram-negative bacteria resistance to drugs of last resort, called carbapenems, and the resistance genes New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase (NDM-1) and Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC). INSETS: Global Threat;Exacting Protocol.