New Delhi Metallo β-Lactamase 1

[Tony]

Or NDM-1 as it shall be more widely known. It's a clever superbug that has arrived from the east. It lives in the gut and is resistant to anti-biotics and is in UK hospitals.

 

Here's a briefing courtesy of the BBC:

 

Q: What is NDM-1?

New Delhi metallo-ß-lactamase-1, or NDM-1 for short, is an enzyme that can live inside different bacteria. Any bacteria that carry it will be resistant to carbapenem antibiotics. This is concerning because these antibiotics are some of the most powerful ones, used on hard-to-treat infections that evade other drugs.

 

Q: Why is this a problem?

NDM-1 (or more precisely the DNA code for this enzyme) can easily now jump from one strain of bacteria to another.

 

Experts are worried that it may end up in another bacterium which is already resistant to many other antibiotics.

 

Ultimately, it could produce dangerous infections that would spread rapidly from person to person and be almost impossible to treat.

 

Q: Can it be treated?

Other treatment options are available to fight these infections but they present major challenges for clinicians and will often demand combinations of antibiotics are used.

 

Scientists have identified some strains that have been resistant to all known antibiotics.

 

Q: How would I know if I had it?

So far, many of the UK cases have been in patients who have recently travelled to India or Pakistan for medical treatment and who caught the infection while there.

 

But, some of these patients have passed the infection on to others in UK hospitals upon their return.

 

The infections have ranged from mild to severe - and some have been fatal.

 

Two types of bacteria have been host to NDM-1: the gut bacterium E.coli and another that can invade the lungs called Klebsiella pneumonia. Both can lead to urinary tract infections and blood poisoning.

 

Infections such as these would usually be spotted in patients by medics.

 

Q: Can its spread be stopped?

Experts say the way to stop it is through surveillance, rapid identification and isolation of any hospital patients who are infected.

 

Normal infection control measures, such as disinfecting hospital equipment and doctors and nurses washing their hands with antibacterial soap, can stop the spread.

 

NDM-1 is already widespread in the Indian subcontinent and has also reached countries including the US, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands. Scientists believe it has the potential to become a global public health issue.

 

And they say we now need new drugs to treat resistant strains.

 

Q: Are there new antibiotics that could help?

While there is a great deal of investment in research to find new antibiotics, experts say that most of the drugs currently in the pipeline will be useless for treating NDM-1 positive patients.

 

This is because the bacteria that carry NDM-1 are gram-negative, while most of the work is being carried out for gram-positive bugs like MRSA.

 

The Health Protection Agency says "multi-resistant gram-negative bacteria pose a notable public health risk and it remains important that the pharmaceutical industry continues to work towards developing new treatment options".

 

The Department of Health said it was investigating ways of encouraging the development of new antibiotics with European colleagues.

 

Q: What will happen now?

 

The government said HPA would continue to monitor the situation and would regularly review the data and the need for further action.

 

In the meantime, hospitals should ensure they continue to provide good infection control to prevent any spread, and consider whether patients have recently been treated abroad and send samples to HPA for testing if necessary.

[alchresearch]

Damn foreigners, I knew they'd be to blame.

 

/Dailymail

[HeadingNorth]

Oh well. We've known for thirty years that antibiotics would eventually become obsolete; it's just a shame that the medical industry didn't start planning for that outcome thirty years ago instead of waiting until it happened.

[HeadingNorth]

It's this year's bird flu/swine flu/AIDS/ SARS/BSE.

 

 

Not unless it gets into the Yersinia pestis bacterium. Then things would get interesting.

[onewheeldave]

Or NDM-1 as it shall be more widely known. It's a clever superbug that has arrived from the east. It lives in the gut and is resistant to anti-biotics and is in UK hospitals.

 

Here's a briefing courtesy of the BBC:

 

Q: What is NDM-1?

New Delhi metallo-ß-lactamase-1, or NDM-1 for short, is an enzyme that can live inside different bacteria. Any bacteria that carry it will be resistant to carbapenem antibiotics. This is concerning because these antibiotics are some of the most powerful ones, used on hard-to-treat infections that evade other drugs............................

 

..................The government said HPA would continue to monitor the situation and would regularly review the data and the need for further action.

 

In the meantime, hospitals should ensure they continue to provide good infection control to prevent any spread, and consider whether patients have recently been treated abroad and send samples to HPA for testing if necessary.

 

And the tragedy is that this comes so close to the recent 'bird flu' epidemic has left our population devastated.

[HeadingNorth]

And the tragedy is that this comes so close to the recent 'bird flu' epidemic has left our population devastated.

 

There hasn't been a bird flu epidemic.

 

There was a pandemic of swine flu, but that turned out to be less dangerous than normal flu. Bird flu is considerably more dangerous - I believe it still has a 100% mortality rate - but, so far, it can't be passed from human to human.

 

Sooner or later, a strain will appear that is more dangerous, and can pass from human to human. Nobody can tell when.

[HeadingNorth]

The only epidemic we're suffering from is an epidemic of fear.

 

 

There doesn't seem to be much that anyone can do about that. The public always assume the worst, and the media, if anything, make things worse by how they report such issues.

[truman]

There doesn't seem to be much that anyone can do about that. The public always assume the worst, and the media, if anything, make things worse by how they report such issues.

 

I think the media start the ball rolling with the alarmist way some things are reported...

[Obelix]

Oh well. We've known for thirty years that antibiotics would eventually become obsolete; it's just a shame that the medical industry didn't start planning for that outcome thirty years ago instead of waiting until it happened.

 

What do you think they've been doing then for the last thirty years - epxerimenting on animals and beating off SHAC protesters with a stick for the fun of it?

[HeadingNorth]

What do you think they've been doing then for the last thirty years - epxerimenting on animals and beating off SHAC protesters with a stick for the fun of it?

 

Apparently, what they've mostly been doing for the last thirty years is developing new antibiotics. I've never heard of a single bacteriophage treatment coming on to the market.