HARRISBURG, Pa.-- According to the report Pinnacle Healthcare Dr. John D. Goldman read, the MCR-1 bacteria is nothing to fear yet.
"If you're sitting at home and watching this you're probably healthy," Dr. Goldman said. "You extremely unlikely to get this."
He said the the bacteria is treatable. There are antibiotics that can fight the bacteria.
"If someone is infected with this you can still be treated," he said. "However it acquired a resistance to a drug called colistin."
According to Dr. Goldman, this is the first time a bacteria was resistant to colistin in U.S. history.
The resistance to the antibiotics is what is scary to doctors. The fear is this resistance will spread to other bacteria that have resistance to other antibiotics. If the D.N.A. would combine to create a stronger bacteria, then there's the possibly of creating a superbug. The fear of the superbug would be it could be resistant to all antibiotics.
"If you would like to protect yourself from getting this, just wash your hands," Dr. Goldman said.
He said most people do not have to fear this bacteria. The people at a higher risk are people who are often sick, have taken a lot of antibiotics, and who have made several trips to healthcare systems.