A new superbug that is resistant to antibiotics has entered UK
hospitals and is causing major alarm with its potential to spread worldwide.
The
superbug is thought to have been picked up by patients who’ve travelled
to India for cosmetic or medical surgery. Thirty-seven cases of the
superbug have so far been recorded in the UK and three cases in
Australia.
Researchers at medical journal The Lancet have warned
that the superbug’s potential “to be a worldwide public health problem
is great”. This is because the superbug – an enzyme called New Delhi
metallo-beta-lactamase-1 or NDM-1 – is resistant to even the most
powerful antibiotics and nothing has been developed to combat it.
Not
only that, but the superbug enzyme can jump easily from one bacterium
to another, meaning it could attach itself to more dangerous diseases
causing them to become resistant to antibiotics.
David Livermore
of the Health Protection Agency in Britain, who has carried out
research into the superbug from India, 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.”
However there have been critics of the outcry over the new superbug.
S
S Ahluwalia, a member of India’s Bharatiya Janata Party, said that the
superbug scare may be an attempt to defame the Indian medical sector,
which is seeing a “medical tourism” boom as foreigners take advantage
of the country’s low cost treatments.
“When India is emerging as
a medical tourism destination, this type of news is unfortunate and may
be a sinister design of multinational companies” to defame the Indian
medical sector,” he said.
