It is agreed among med professionals and scientists that we might be at the cusp of what is known as the "post-antibiotic era".. The discovery of a drug resistant E.Coli found in a pig from a Shanghai farm is an ominous sign of what's to come. This bacterium seems to survive "Colistin" - the last resort in treating bacterial infections. We have always had a bunch of bacteria which have been resistant to antibiotics. But their drug resistant property was not passed onto other bacteria. What's particularly worrisome about this case is that the bacterium is able to pass on the mutation responsible for its drug resistance to other bacterium rather easily. Evidences are emerging that the drug resistant bacteria has already penetrated via the meat industry into the US, Cambodia and Malaysia as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ9bP6wo8rA
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34857015
While scientists are frantically searching for a new class of compounds to fight these drug resistant bacteria, the cdc estimates that about 10 mil lives may perish by 2050 if possible alternatives are not found.
Damning stuff-
1. Last antibiotic to be developed was over 3 decades back. Research has been minimal in developing new class of compounds. No profits you see.
2. Casual use of antibiotics in meat industry including colistin hence aiding the drug resisting mutation among bacterium.