by Darian Peters

Created on: November 24, 2010

One antibiotic drug that has been developed to fight infections caused by bacteria is Carbapenem. Whilst some antibiotics are narrow-spectrum, Carbapenem is a broad-spectrum antibiotic that is used as a last line of defence against some infections.  Unfortunately some species of bacteria have become resistant to the drug. One such species is Klebsiella pneumoniae. This species now has a gene that produces an enzyme called the Klebsiella Pneumoniae Carbapenamase (KPC) enzyme that provides the resistance to Carbapemenm.

Antibiotics have been at the forefront of the battle against bacterial infections for many decades now. The trouble is that they have been used so widely that the bacterial species involved have naturally evolved ways of fighting back in a kind of arms race. This involves new genes appearing in the bacterial genome that can provide them with functions that make the previously effective antibiotic ineffective. In particular enzymes can be produced that fight the antibiotic that is supposed to be killing off the bacteria.

This is what has happened in the case of the antibiotic Carbapenem. This broad-spectrum antibiotic is often used as a last resort when narrow-spectrum treatment options have failed. But there are an increasing number of species of bacteria more generally that are now evolving immunity to antibiotics. One example is the Escherichia coli species of bacterium. One enzyme that can cause trouble for Carbapenem is New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase enzyme (NDM-1).

Another example is the Klebsiella Pneumoniae Carbapenamase (KPC) enzyme, which helps the Klebsiella pneumoniae bacterial species, amongst others, to fight the Carbapenem drug. The Klebsiella pneumoniae bacterium is scary in that it can be caught in hospitals. The presence of a gene in it now producing the Klebsiella Pneumoniae Carbapenamase enzyme makes it much tougher to fight against. Even people going in to hospital for routine operations could end up catching a superbug that can’t be fought at the moment. 

The possibility of a superbug that is invulnerable to all antibiotics is a nightmare scenario for many people. It has even caused a feeding frenzy in some sections of the media as they warn of the dire consequences and the risks of global diseases that we can’t fight. But it very much remains to be seen how much of a threat this really is. Human beings are very resourceful and medical science is advancing quickly so maybe we will find new solutions just as the bacteria have. Perhaps with new antibiotics but perhaps using other options such as nanotechnology.

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