Panama - 15 Killed In Two Months By Antibiotic Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae Carbapenemase (KPC) Bacteria

In the past two months 50 patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Social Security Fund hospital have been infected by a bacteria resistant to antibiotics, of which 30% have died, explained Lizka Richard, the National Sub-director of Health Facilities. "We know the bacteria came to Panama two months ago, and the peak incidence is declining" and that it presented in ICU patients in the Metropolitan Hospital, because that's where the more serious and complicated cases come, she said. The bacteria could have been brought to Panama by one or more sick patients who arrived from abroad and then it spread, she said. We do not have hundreds of cases - there are 50 - and those who died were complicated by other bacteria with multiple organ failure, because they are patients undergoing multiple therapies. The Klebsiella pneumoniae Carbapenemase (KPC) bacteria attacks ventilated patients by air, infects internal organs and in some cases leads to death, especially those in delicate condition, she said. On the possibility that a patient in good health who had surgery might become infected, Richard said the body can fight it and also the CSS is buying a special antibiotic Pigeciclina, although not within the official form. "Things come and we have to fight them, and the situation is under control," she said. She denied that the dialysis room has been affected by this bacteria, but these patients are affected by any germ on their skin because their immune systems are depressed. She said the presence of this bacterium is a global phenomenon and not unique to Panama. Its mutation is due to the misuse of antibiotics, which has led to increasingly resistant strains. (Panama America)

Editor's Comment: If there have been 50 confirmed cases and 30% of those have died, that's 15 deaths due to Klebsiella pneumoniae Carbapenemase in Panama in the past two months. Consider this - the first antibiotics came into use right about the time my parents were born. Now about 80 years later the bugs are mutating to overcome what we are throwing at them. It's possible sooner or later they will evolve to the point where nothing we have can kill them. Imagine getting a fatal infection - and dying from it - after getting a simple cut on your hand. Or even worse a pandemic of a resistant bacterial pneumonia that sweeps the world, killing millions, if not billions. We think we're smart, but Mother Nature is smarter still and evolution as the wildcard trumps all.