Rather than mementos, Brits looking for discounted nip-and-tucks in India have brought home a new superbug infection that could spread throughout the world. Plastic surgery individuals have contracted a new class of superbug infection in south Asia and carried it to Britain, where it could spread worldwide. The new superbug carries a bacteria-jumping gene that makes infections impervious to probably the most powerful antibiotics accessible. While Large Pharma chases lucrative conditions like erectile dysfunction, experts say governments have to do something to encourage more investment in antibiotic research.
Superbug gene helps bacteria defeat antibiotics
A new superbug infection set off alarms that it could spread worldwide after reaching Britain from India via medical tourism. There are few drugs strong enough to treat it, researchers said. Reuters reports that a newly found gene– New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase, or NDM-1-has been found by researchers in clients in both south Asia and the U.K. Bacteria are altered by the NDM-1 gene to become highly resistant to most antibiotics, including carbapenems-the most powerful class accessible. Experts say you will find no new antibiotics within the pipeline to fight it. Timothy Walsh, who led the study, told Reuters he fears the new superbug could soon spread across the globe with international travel for cheap cosmetic surgery procedures increasing.
Superbug lives to migrate and mutate
The superbug gene was already circulating widely in India, the researchers said In an article published online Wednesday within the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, a country where the health care system isn’t prepared with the detection technology or drugs to treat it. The Associated Press reports that after going to India or Pakistan for plastic surgery, 37 people in Britain with drug-resistant infections were diagnosed with the superbug gene. The superbug gene has also been detected by medical researchers in Australia, Canada, the Americas, the Netherlands and Sweden . The superbug has “an alarming potential to spread and diversify,” as the gene is found on DNA structures called plasmids that are copied and effortlessly between bacteria , the authors of the Lancet article said.
Money, not superbugs, entice Big Pharma
The pharmaceutical industry isn’t motivated to fight superbugs. Because bacteria adapts so easily, new antibiotics don’t have the shelf life to be sufficiently lucrative . The Wall Street Journal reports that to ensure they get an adequate return on investment to shareholders for addressing a global health threat, some pharmaceutical businesses are looking for government subsidies. They say future earnings are also threatened by strict demands on research and development from regulators. However, Pfizer and Merck in the U.S., Novartis in Switzerland and GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca in the U.K are engaged in antibiotic research .
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Reuters
reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67A0YU20100811
Associated Press
google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gpFQ3Bz7hIFhSsHlYpROVwTVwwoAD9HHAI6G0
Wall Street Journal
online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100811-710190.html
