Detection of the Tigecycline Resistance-Mediating tet(Y) Gene in Acinetobacter baumannii Isolates from Intensive Care Unit Patients in Pakistan.

Summary: Superbugs are bacteria that are very hard to kill because most medicines don't work on them anymore. One of these superbugs is called Acinetobacter baumannii, and it often makes sick people in hospitals even sicker. Doctors use a strong drug called tigecycline to fight it. But a new study in Pakistan looked at 195 samples from sick patients and found that the bug is learning to beat this drug, too! About 9% of the bugs could survive tigecycline because they have special defense genes. The good news is another drug, minocycline, still worked well. We need to be careful with how we use antibiotics so these medicines keep working.