The nightmare of all scientists, bacteria resistant to all existing antibiotics. It seemed a remote possibility, however, 221 cases were brought to light in 2017 by the American Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which renamed them 'nightmare bacteria'. In addition to being practically 'immune' to all or almost all existing antibiotics and therefore difficult to treat, this kind of bacteria have been found to be uncommon in some areas of the USA or have particular genes that allow them to spread their resistance to other bacteria. Characteristic found in 25% of the samples analyzed. In the US, antibiotic resistance is present in every state: more than 23 Americans die each year from infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Hence the decision of the CDC to prepare a new aggressive action plan at federal and state level. The key will be to quickly identify the individual case, then healthcare facilities will need to quickly isolate patients and begin controlling infection to reduce and prevent contagion to other people, even testing patients without symptoms. The data presented showed that this approach can prevent thousands of difficult-to-treat or incurable infections, particularly those caused by Candida auris and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteria (Cre). For the latter type of bacteria alone, it is estimated that there is a 76% drop in infections in a single state. Laboratory tests also showed that in 1 in 10 cases there were no symptoms in people. This means that the bacterium may have spread to health care facilities going unnoticed. Left untreated, symptom-free patients can still spread these rare and hard-to-defeat bacteria in healthcare facilities. A couple of months ago the World Health Organization (WHO) drew up its first report on the surveillance of antibiotic resistance, from which emerges the boom in people affected: there are at least half a million in the world. However, this figure is underestimated, given that it refers only to 22 countries and does not include cases of resistance to tuberculosis infection (TB). And despite calls for a more moderate use of antibiotics, consumption in the world between 2000 and 2015 increased by 40%. To make the lion's share are the middle and low income countries, even if some of the richest ones, starting from Italy, contributed to the boom. Out of 76 countries studied, Italy ranks 15th.
