Another superbug outbreak is hitting the United States, this time linked to an intestinal bacteria spread by international travelers.
Drug-resistant bacteria that reside in the intestines sickened 243 people in 32 states from May 2014 to February 2015, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Thursday.
The cause was travelers returning from overseas and introducing the illness in a series of outbreaks across the country.
The bacteria, called Shigellosis, can easily spread among children in childcare facilities, homeless people and gay and bisexual men, which has occurred in the outbreaks, CDC said.
The agency found that 90 percent of the cases tested were resistant to ciprofloxacin, an antibiotic commonly used to treat Shigellosis.
“Drug-resistant infections are harder to treat and because Shigella spreads so easily between people, the potential for more — and larger — outbreaks is a real concern,” CDC Director Tom Frieden said.
Drug-resistant infections are becoming a growing public health hazard in the U.S., prompting the Obama administration to release a five-year plan last week to combat the problem.
Humans can develop a resistance to bacteria in two main ways: overprescribing by doctors of antibiotics and eating the meat of animals given too much antibiotics, according to CDC.
Another outbreak of drug-resistant bacteria occurred in California after two hospitals used contaminated instruments on patients, resulting in 11 people getting infected and two people dying.
