On the same day the World Health Organization declared the (much publicized for months) swine flu pandemic is over, up pops a new “superbug” from India that authorities claim could spread worldwide, notes Grumpy Editor.
Look for broadcast and print media, always looking for health/medical items that can shake up listeners/readers, to keep the new health problem in the news, especially during the summer doldrums when most of Washington is on vacation and air time and print space have to be filled.
Word of the new superbug comes from a study published in Lancet Infectious Diseases. The journal reports the presence of a new gene called New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase or NDM-1.
It makes bacteria highly resistant to almost all antibiotics, including the most powerful class called carbapenems.
The study says the superbugs were found in 180 patient samples from the United Kingdom, Pakistan and India. All patients had surgery in India.
It reached the U.S. in this year’s first half with three patients --- who had medical care in India --- linked to NDM-1.
"Because of medical tourism and international travel in general, resistance to these types of bacteria has the potential to spread around the world very, very quickly,” warns Timothy Walsh, from Britain's Cardiff University, who led the study.
“There is nothing in the (drug development) pipeline to tackle it,” he adds.
Meanwhile, after much media coverage of the swine flu and constant reminders from last fall to spring to get vaccinated, worldwide deaths attributed to the H1N1 virus since April 2009 reached 18,449.
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