• Colistin is among the few antibiotics that are still useful in treating illnesses like pneumonia and eliminating microbes. 

• The World Health Organisation considers it to be extremely significant for human medicine.

• The study, recently published in Nature Communications Journal,  surveys the presence of mobile colistin resistance gene (mcr) genes in Nigeria, a country with limited clinical use of colistin.

• 4907 rectal swabs were collected from mothers and neonates across three hospital sites in Nigeria, 47 of which (40 from mothers and seven from neonates) carried mcr genes across a range of bacterial species.

• The mcr genes were found in 46 Enterobacter species, and single isolates of Shigella, E. coli, and Klebsiella quasipneumoniae.

• Although the prevalence during the 2015-2016 collection was low, the diversity of mcr-gene types and the range of bacterial species are concerning. 

• The introduction of colistin in medical settings could rapidly select and expand resistant isolates.

Click here to read more.