Superbug Requires Global Response Now!

 This Superbug is frightening not only the general population, but doctors and scientists as well. If you have a bacteria that is resistant to all known medicines and has access to worldwide traffic, that's potential disaster. In the following article, Patrice Nordmann of France's Bicetre Hospital says, "There is an urgent need, first, to put in place an international surveillance system over the coming months and, second, to test all the patients admitted to any given health system' in as many countries as possible". Too right!
   .  . June

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'Time bomb' superbug requires global response: doctor
AFP:



 BOSTON, Massachusetts — A new superbug from India thought to be resistant to nearly every known antibiotic poses a global threat, scientists warned Monday, urging health authorities to track the bacteria.


'There is an urgent need, first, to put in place an international surveillance system over the coming months and, second, to test all the patients admitted to any given health system' in as many countries as possible, said Patrice Nordmann of France's Bicetre Hospital.

'For the moment, we don't know how fast this phenomenon is spreading... it could take months or years, but what is certain is that is will spread,' he told AFP, noting that measures have already been agreed in France and are under discussion in Japan, Singapore and China.

"It's a bit like a time bomb.

Nordmann was in Boston for the 50th annual meeting of the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC), the world's largest gathering of infectious disease specialists, which is drawing some 12,000 people here September 12-14.

The head of Bicetre's department of bacteriology and virology noted that the bacteria will find fertile ground in India's massive 1.3 billion-person strong population, and could easily be carried back and forth by the country's massive diaspora.

The so-called "superbug," dubbed NDM-1 (New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase 1), and its variants appear to have originated in India and were first detected in Britain in 2007.

Read More . . .

New Type Of Superbug Detected In Japan

 This new type of superbug is, according to the article below, resistant to ALL antibiotics. Great! Japan's health ministry launched a nationwide survey on the superbugs. The world health agency gave a warning on the potential risk of NDM-1 spreading worldwide as all of the British patients were medical tourists to South Asia.
    . . . June


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Japan Detects a New Type of Superbug
Arirang | Korea for the World, The World for Korea - Arirang.co.kr:

Japan's health authorities confirmed that a new type of superbug has been identified which is resistant to all antibiotics.

New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1 or NDM-1 enzyme, which was first discovered in New Delhi, India has been found to turn bacteria into so called 'superbugs'.

Dokkyo Medical University Hospital in Tochigi prefecture in Japan detected this superbug case in a 50-year-old patient last year who suffered a severe fever after he returned home from his trip to India in May 2009.

Following the identified case of Japan's first superbug as well as the seperate case of 46 patients infected with Acinetobacter killing 9 people Japan's health ministry launched a nationwide survey on the superbugs.

[Interview : Yonetoshi Nakagawara, Head
Department of Medical Safety ] "Our priority is to find out where the infection came from and prevent the infection from spreading further from the currently infected patients."

According to the hospital the patient fully recovered and there was no contagion.

The WHO released research in the Lancet medical journal in mid-August which identified the cases in which 37 patients from Britain were infected with the superbug carrying NDM-1 gene.

The world health agency gave a warning on the potential risk of NDM-1 spreading worldwide as all of the British patients were medical tourists to South Asia.

The first death directly attributed to NDM-1 was reported in Belgium in August.

Read on . . .

This Drug-Resistant Superbug Really Scares Me!

This really frightens me. Don't we already have enough drug-resistant bugs and hospital-grown infections happening in our own country without importing them from elsewhere? The article below takes the issue from the standpoint of India, but I think our concern needs to begin at home.



. . . June

Superbug scare raises hackles in India
By Sunrita Sen Aug 13, 2010, 10:50 GMT

New Delhi - A British article claiming a drug-resistant superbug came from India was 'biased' and could be aimed against the country's booming medical tourism industry, Indian medical professionals and scientists said Friday.

The study in the British medical journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases said a new antibiotic-resistant enzyme had emerged in India, Pakistan and Britain.

The enzyme, named New Delhi metallo-beta lactamase (NDM-1), can lead to fatal multiple organ failure.

The report, based on laboratory studies in the three countries, concluded that the superbug may have originated in India and 'will likely spread worldwide.'

It said the enzyme could impregnate widespread bacteria such as escherichia coli and was resistant to common antibiotics.

Britain's Health Protection Agency said it had identified bacteria with the offending enzyme in at least 50 patients. 'Most, not all, had previously travelled to the Indian subcontinent, and many had received hospital treatment there,' the agency said in a statement.

The Indian government in a release Thursday said the conclusions of the report were 'loaded with inference' and presented a 'frightening picture which is not supported by scientific data.'

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It's a little frightening to think that we could be importing superbugs from other countries, isn't it? Would you go to another country for surgery?  leave a comment


. . . June