The problem of ineffective antibiotics won’t go away, as NewScientist (21 January 2017) sadly notes:
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that a woman who died in Nevada last August was infected with Klebsiella bacteria that were resistant to 26 antibiotics – everything her hospital could throw at it. …
Her infection might have been cured by one drug that is licensed for uses like this in Europe, but not in the US. Fosfomycin is an old drug that was replaced in the 1980s by more modern cephalosporin antibiotics. Researchers are now trying to resurrect and relicense such drugs for use in the increasing number of cases where newer ones fail.
Concerning Fosfomycin, Wikipedia notes:
The drug is well tolerated and has a low incidence of harmful side-effects.[5] However, development of bacterial resistance under therapy is a frequent occurrence and makes fosfomycin unsuitable for sustained therapy of severe infections. It is not recommended for children and those over 75 years old.[8]
Additional uses have been proposed.[9] The global problem of advancing antimicrobial resistance has led to a renewed interest in its use more recently.
Gotta wonder how long Fosfomycin will remain useful.
