"E. Coli Bacteria Can Transfer Antibiotic Resistance To Other Bacteria"

Researchers have found that some antibiotic-resistant bacteria can transfer their resistance to other strains.

"Colistin is the antibiotic that doctors use as a last resort to wipe out dangerous bacteria.

'It's really been kept as the last drug in the locker when all else has failed,' says Dr. Jim Spencer, a senior lecturer in microbiology at the University of Birstol in the United Kingdom.

But now Spencer reports that E. coli bacteria, which can cause kidney failure as well as urinary tract and other infections, has changed. In an article published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, Spencer and his co-authors tell how researchers in China have found that the bacteria is not only increasingly resistant to colistin but has developed a mechanism to transfer its resistance to neighboring bacteria. And those bacteria don't even have to be the same strain as the one that originally developed the resistance. So bacteria that cause other health problems could be affected."

Jason Beaubien reports for NPR's Morning Edition November 10, 2015.