Thanks! Con Menezes for posting a link to alert us to the scary story of the rise of the superbugs.
Gabriel De Figueiredo points out that "superbugs are also created when hospital waste is not disposed of properly, preferably by inceneration ". Comment: This is quite alarming as it implies that infections that up to now could be dealt with using known antibiotcs, could be out of control, unless new drugs could be developed to to once again tackle the world's most resistant germs. Some excerpts from an writeup on the subject by Jason Gale and Adi Narayan - May 7, 2012 "The new superbugs are multiplying so successfully because of a gene dubbed NDM-1. That’s short for New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1, a reference to the city where a Swedish man was hospitalized in 2007 with an infection that resisted standard antibiotic treatments. " "The superbugs are proving to be not only wily but also highly sexed. The NDM-1 gene is carried on mobile loops of DNA called plasmids that transfer easily among and across many types of bacteria through a form of microbial mating. This means that unlike previous germ-altering genes, NDM-1 can infiltrate dozens of bacterial species. Intestine-dwelling E. coli, the most common bacterium that people encounter, soil-inhabiting microbes and water-loving cholera bugs can all be fortified by the gene. What’s worse, germs empowered by NDM-1 can muster as many as nine other ways to destroy the world’s most potent antibiotics. " "More than 40 countries have discovered the genetically altered superbugs in blood, urine and other patient specimens. Canada, France, Italy, Kosovo and South Africa have found them in people with no travel links, suggesting the bugs have taken hold there. " Read more at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-07/drug-defying-germs-from-india-speed-post-antibiotic-era.html Regards, E.
