A new superbug disease could become a world-wide threat, thanks to Brits seeking out cheap face lifts in India and bringing home more than mementos. A new class of superbug has infected plastic surgery clients in south Asia who have carried it to the U.K., from where it could spread around the globe. A gene interchangeable among bacteria in the new superbug makes infections resistant to probably the most powerful antibiotic drugs ever made. 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 turns bacteria into virulent killers
A new superbug infection threatens to go global after being carried to Britain from India by medical tourists. Scientists say you will find almost no drugs to treat it. Reuters reports that researchers have found a new gene called New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase, or NDM-1, in patients in south Asia and in Britain. Bacteria are altered by the NDM-1 gene to become highly resistant to most antibiotics, including carbapenems-the most powerful class accessible. There are no new antibiotics in the research pipeline to combat the new gene, drug experts have said. 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
In an article published online Wednesday in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, the researchers said the superbug gene was already circulating widely in India, where the health care system is much less likely to detect it or have adequate antibiotics to fight 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 gene is found on DNA structures, called plasmids, that can be very easily copied and transferred between bacteria, giving the superbug “an alarming potential to spread and diversify,” the authors said.
Money motivates Large Pharma
The pharmaceutical industry lacks interest in superbugs. Bacteria’s ability to develop resistance easily narrows the commercial opportunity for new antibiotics . 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. Even so, some large drug makers are engaged in antibiotic research, including Pfizer and Merck within the U.S., Novartis in Switzerland and GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca within the U.K.
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
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