Rare mutations are helping dangerous hospital bacteria slip past the last-line antibiotic defense

Article excerpt

Another last-resort antibiotic has fallen victim to the rapid evolution of drug-resistant superbugs. The powerful antibiotic combination ceftazidime-avibactam (CZA), widely used to treat severe hospital-acquired infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, particularly in critically ill and immunocompromised patients, can no longer eliminate some of these infections.