Illinois, California, and Massachusetts have all shown cases of the superbug NDM-1. This is a superbug a British health related journal had brought up last month and has entered the United States of America now. All three had lately spent time in India, where the superbug is believed to have originated. The first thought every person had was that medical tourism for British citizens going to India for inexpensive cosmetic surgery was to blame for NDM-1. Now scientists are concerned that NDM-1 can be a worldwide threat thinking about the American superbug victims were not medical tourists at all.
India where superbug United States attacks came from
Recently discovered cases of superbug infection in the United States of America, along with two others in Canada, involve individuals who received medical care in India. According to Red Orbit, there was a woman in California that got NDM-1. While in India, she got in a vehicle incident and had to receive health related care. The man in Illinois with the bug traveled in India when already having pre-existing medical conditions requiring him to have a urinary catheter. In Massachusetts, a woman from India had surgery and chemotherapy there before traveling to the United States of America. All of the victims survived although the superbug wouldn’t die with antibiotics that are meant to treat drug-resistant attacks. The first person to really die from the NDM-1 superbug was a Belgian man who was in an auto incident and hospitalized in Pakistan.
Could the superbug be a global threat?
Lancet, a British medical journal, recorded all cases of Britons who went to India for cheap plastic surgery and came home with cases of NDM-1. Scientists within the article explain that the gene that NDM-1 is mutates bacteria so it can start to resist all bacteria. In India, there is a lot of bacteria, says CBS News, carrying the NDM-1 gene. Bangladesh and Pakistan are also showing increase numbers of the NDM-1 gene. Anybody going to the undeveloped nations seems to be picking up the superbug and bringing it along with them.
Overpopulation is in India
Right now, medical specialists are all together in Boston at the international meeting of microbiologists and doctors. In this meeting, the NDM-1 is being discussed as a result of the concern of how many individuals in India really have it. In India, one can get antibiotics over the counter for cheap, says the Boston Herald. Inappropriate use spreads drug resistance among deadly bacteria. NDM-1 goes faster where poor sanitation is more prevalent. This is really bad when germs grow within the gut. Timothy Walsh in the Lancet article explained to the Boston Herald that India is somewhere the bug can spread easily because of the unsanitary conditions. Although one or two antibiotics can actually work for the superbug, there are still more that are needed to fight it.
Additional reading
Red Orbit
redorbit.com/news/health/1916458/superbug_found_in_3_us_states_global_response_needed/
CBS News
cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20016335-10391704.html
Boston Herald
boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/09/14/superbug_patient_treated_at_mgh/
