Illinois, California, and Massachusetts have all shown cases of the superbug NDM-1. This can be a superbug a British medical journal had brought up last month and has entered the U.S. now. All 3 had recently spent time in India, where the superbug is believed to have originated. The first thought everybody had was that health related tourism for British citizens going to India for inexpensive cosmetic surgery was to blame for NDM-1. But the belief that the American superbug victims weren’t health related tourists is leading scientists to believe the potential of NDM-1 as an international threat is more severe than first thought.
Superbug cases in United States look to have come from India
All cases of the superbug infection within the U.S. and Canada can be traced back to those getting health related care in India. Red Orbit reports the NDM-1 case in California involved a woman who received medical care after a vehicle accident in India. The man in Illinois with the bug traveled in India while already having pre-existing medical conditions requiring him to have a urinary catheter. In Massachusetts, a woman from India had surgery and chemotherapy there before traveling to the U.S.. In all three U.S. cases the superbugs weren’t killed by antibiotics typically used to treat drug-resistant infections, however all of the victims survived. A Belgian who had been hospitalized in Pakistan after an automobile incident was the first known death from the NDM-1 superbug.
Hitchhiking superbug a global threat
All Britons traveling to India for cheap plastic surgery who contracted the NDM-1 disease were recorded within the Lancet last month. The Lancet is actually a medical journal in Briton. In the Lancet article, scientists describe NDM-1 as a gene that mutates bacteria to become resistant to the strongest antibiotics accessible. The NDM-1 gene is spread via all of India, says CBS News. Bacteria carrying the gene seem common. Scientists say the NDM-1 gene is becoming increasingly common in Bangladesh and Pakistan as well. The superbug has found a way to get worldwide. It is hitching rides with any person willing to go to the country and pick it up.
India has too numerous people in it
Medical specialists attending an international meeting of microbiologists and doctors in Boston this week are really concerned about NDM-1, particularly as a result of its prevalence in India. The Boston Herald reports that antibiotics are cheap and sold over the counter in India. If one were to use it inappropriately, it would then become more resistant. The deadly bacteria would become something we couldn’t stop. Poor sanitation facilitates the spread of NDM-1, which thrives in germs that grow within the human gut. Timothy Walsh, one of the authors of the Lancet article, told the Boston Herald that the overpopulated, unsanitary conditions in India will make the superbug spread widely. Although one or two antibiotics can really work for the superbug, there are still more that are needed to fight it.
Additional reading
Red Orbit
redorbit.com/news/health/1916458/superbug_found_in_3_us_states_global_response_needed/
CBS News
cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20016335-10391704.html
Boston Herald
boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/09/14/superbug_patient_treated_at_mgh/
No comments:
Post a Comment