New 'superbug' found in UK hospitals By Michelle Roberts Health reporter, BBC News E.

[4me2]

New 'superbug' found in UK hospitals

By Michelle Roberts Health reporter, BBC News


NDM-1 has been found in E.coli bacteria


A new superbug that is resistant to even the most powerful antibiotics has entered UK hospitals, experts warn.
They say bacteria that make an enzyme called NDM-1 have travelled back with NHS patients who went abroad to countries like India and Pakistan for treatments such as cosmetic surgery.
Although there have only been about 50 cases identified in the UK so far, scientists fear it will go global.
Tight surveillance and new drugs are needed says Lancet Infectious Diseases.
NDM-1 can exist inside different bacteria, like E.coli, and it makes them resistant to one of the most powerful groups of antibiotics - carbapenems.
These are generally reserved for use in emergencies and to combat hard-to-treat infections caused by other multi-resistant bacteria.
Continue reading the main story “Start Quote

The fear would be that it gets into a strain of bacteria that is very good at being transmitted between patients”

End Quote Dr David Livermore Researcher from the HPA

• Q&A: NDM-1 superbugs

And experts fear NDM-1 could now jump to other strains of bacteria that are already resistant to many other antibiotics.
Ultimately, this could produce dangerous infections that would spread rapidly from person to person and be almost impossible to treat.
At least one of the NDM-1 infections the researchers analysed was resistant to all known antibiotics.
Similar infections have been seen in the US, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands and international researchers say that NDM-1 could become a major global health problem.
Infections have already been passed from patient to patient in UK hospitals.





The way to stop NDM-1, say researchers, is to rapidly identify and isolate 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.
And currently, most of the bacteria carrying NDM-1 have been treatable using a combination of different antibiotics.
But the potential of NDM-1 to become endemic worldwide is "clear and frightening", say the researchers in their Lancet paper.


National alert

The research was carried out by experts at Cardiff University, the Health Protection Agency and international colleagues.


Dr David Livermore, one of the researchers and who works for the UK's Health Protection Agency (HPA), said: "There have been a number of small clusters within the UK, but far and away the greater number of cases appear to be associated with travel and hospital treatment in the Indian subcontinent.
"This type of resistance has become quite widespread there.
"The fear would be that it gets into a strain of bacteria that is very good at being transmitted between patients."


He said the threat was a serious global public health problem as there are few suitable new antibiotics in development and none that are effective against NDM-1.
The Department of Health has already put out an alert on the issue, he said.
"We issue these alerts very sparingly when we see new and disturbing resistance."


Travel history

The National Resistance Alert came in 2009 after the HPA noted an increasing number of cases - some fatal - emerging in the UK.
The Lancet study looked back at some of the NDM-1 cases referred to the HPA up to 2009 from hospitals scattered across the UK.




E. coli can cause urinary tract infections and blood poisoning


At least 17 of the 37 patients they studied had a history of travelling to India or Pakistan within the past year, and 14 of them had been admitted to a hospital in these countries - many for cosmetic surgery.
For some of the patients the infection was mild, while others were seriously ill, and some with blood poisoning.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "We are working with the HPA on this issue.
"Hospitals need to ensure they continue to provide good infection control to prevent any spread, consider whether patients have recently been treated abroad and send samples to HPA for testing.
"So far there has only been a small number of cases in UK hospital patients. The HPA is continuing to monitor the situation and we are investigating ways of encouraging the development of new antibiotics with our European colleagues."
The Welsh Assembly Government said it would be "fully considering" the report.
"The NHS in Wales is used to dealing with multi-resistant bacteria using standard microbiological approaches, and would deal with any new bacteria in a similar way," said a spokesperson.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10925411

[4me2]

Bollox ! Utter Bollox in my opinion.

Panic making by the media who want a new story and wankers from the Pharma industry looking to line their pockets again.

Last year it was bird flu, now they can't even give the fucking vaccines away.

How many billions were thrown away on this shit ?

What the fuck are they trying to do here ? Make all Indians and Pakistanis feel bad about going to UK hospitals now ?

In the words of Catherine Tate's grannie " What a load of fucking old shit".

[DavidF]

As above we've had pig flu,bird flu now we have a flu based on a fooking ecstasy tab lol. Just another scam by the big business that is pharmaceuticals.

[tronads]

I wonder if there is any colleration between the hotspots on those maps and my employers wonderful "best shore" staffing policies.

[TwoPlAnKs]

If this is true it's pretty bad, makes you think how easily we could get some new mutated illness.

Luckily I agree with 4me2, just because of how many of these we seem to be getting these days. I guess when AIDs was new in the eighties it would have first appeared as a similar story though, you never know.

[neo2810]

Pharmacy is a huge market feeding off ignorance and fear. They can literally say what they want but if they reckon it may kill you, you're going to buy the "cure". There will always be another "possible endemic" as long as these companies need to be making money.

Fucking crooks the lot of them. I wonder how much was "donated" to the HPA for their slant on this story?

[vixen]

Well fingers crossed it isnt true. There seems to be a lot of ailments in this country making a
re-emergence top of this list is TB. Considering that the vaccine for this is given to every school child and has been for as many years back as anyone can remember, how can this be in this day and age? The answer is quite simple, because of immigration. People who are coming to live and visit in this country are bringing in all manner of diseases much the same way as we are carrying diseases to them. Health authorities have to start communicating with other countries because if things are left as they are one of these fobbed off superbugs is going to turn out to be lethal and catch a lot health agencies off guard.