Antibiotic-Resistant Superbug Detected By Japanese Doctors

DOKKYO MEDICAL UNIVERSITY, TOCHIGI, JAPAN. A superbug has been recently discovered and it is said to be immune to standard drugs. It is called NDM-1 which stands for New Delhi metallo-lactamase-1. It was discovered when a patient in his 50’s came back home from India. While he was in the hospital in May 2011, he showed fever symptoms so had a blood test done. It was then discovered that he had an antibiotics-resistant bacterium in his system. It was examined and discovered to contain the NDM-1 gene which makes it even more difficult to cure with the commercial antibiotics currently being sold in the market.

Although multi-drug resistant bacteria have always been around and will still continue to appear, this particular gene needs to be monitored and further study to keep it under control. The last thing we would want is a bacteria outbreak that cannot be cured with the strongest antibiotics today. Even the United Nations admitted that the growing cases of multi-drug resistant bacteria are starting to become a global public health problem.

Doctors at a hospital linked to the Dokkyo Medical University in Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo were the ones who detected the bacterium carrying the New Delhi metallo-lactamase-1 (NDM-1). Last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) sent out a warning telling all global health authorities to monitor the superbug that could have originated from India. Last month alone, there were 37 Britons who were found to have bacteria with the NDM-1. Prior to the discovery, all 37 Britons had received medical treatment in South Asia where they could have possibly acquired the bacteria containing the NDM-1 gene.