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Indian superbug threatens world London, August 11 Scientists have warned that this new superbug, called New Delhi-Metallo-1, resistant to antibiotics, has reached Britain and could spread worldwide as nothing is being developed to combat it, the scientists wrote in the latest edition of the ‘Lancet Infectious Diseases’ journal. In fact, the bug was found attached to E.coli bacteria that cause urinary tract and respiratory infections, they say, adding it has “an alarming potential to spread”. The enzyme can jump easily from one bacterium to another and the scientists fear it will start attaching itself to more dangerous diseases causing them to become resistant to antibiotics, the ‘Daily Mail’ reported. The researchers said the superbug appeared to be already circulating widely in India, where the health system is much less likely to identify its presence or have adequate antibiotics to treat patients. "The potential of NDM-1 to be a worldwide public health problem is great, and coordinated international surveillance is needed," the authors wrote. Aside from the UK, it has also been detected in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, the US and Sweden. The researchers said since many Americans and Europeans travel to India and Pakistan for elective procedures like cosmetic surgery, it was likely the superbug would spread worldwide. Professor David Livermore, from the Health Protection Agency, who co-wrote the research with Professor Timothy Walsh from Cardiff University, said: “The NDM-1 problem is likely to get progressively worse in the foreseeable future.“The potential for wider international spread and for NDM-1 to become endemic worldwide are clear and frightening.” It is said to be resistant even to a class of antibiotics known as carbapenems, which are reserved for use in emergencies and used when bacteria are found to be resistant to more commonly prescribed antibiotics. Worryingly, there are only two antibiotics that work against NDM-1 and the likelihood is that they will also be overcome before long. Prof Walsh said: “In many ways, this is it. This is potentially the end. There’re no antibiotics in the pipeline.” Even if scientists started work immediately on discovering new antibiotics against the threat, he added, there will be nothing available soon. We have a bleak window of may be 10 years, where we are going to have to use the antibiotics we have very wisely, but also grapple with the reality that we have nothing to treat these infections with. It is the first time it has got to this stage with these type of bacteria,” he said. — Agencies What are superbugs?
Over the past century, a huge variety of antibiotics have been developed to treat the plethora of bacterial species that cause human diseases. Some strains of bacteria have evolved into “superbugs” that cannot be killed easily by antibiotics.
Its evolution
Every time bacteria are exposed to antibiotics, there is potential for resistance to evolve. The way humans use antibiotics has helped fuel the rise of the superbugs. New Delhi-Metallo-1
Scientists have warned that this new superbug, called New Delhi-Metallo-1, resistant to antibiotics, has reached Britain and could spread worldwide as nothing is being developed to combat it. The bug was found attached to E.coli bacteria that cause urinary tract and respiratory infections, they say, adding it has “an alarming potential to spread”.
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