—Cóilín Nunan, Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics
News outlets reported Monday that UK government scientists have found a gene, known as mcr-1, that gives bacteria resistance to colistin, often used by doctors when other
antibiotics fail. Such resistance was first discovered last month
in China, and
in the past few weeks, the resistance gene has also been found in Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, and in several Asian and African countries.