International travel increasing spread of new drug-resistant bacteria: Is this the end of antibiotics?
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 - 18:35
in Health & Medicine
A new gene (New Delhi metallo-ß-lactamase [NDM] 1) that enables bacteria to be highly resistant to almost all antibiotics is widespread in Enterobacteriaceae taken from patients in India and Pakistan, and has also been found in UK patients who travelled to India for elective surgery, according to an Article published Online First and in the September edition of The Lancet Infectious Diseases. The rapid emergence of these multi-drug resistant NDM-1 producing bacteria and their potential worldwide spread could herald a period in which antibiotics become redundant and demands very close international monitoring and surveillance.