A new superbug disease could become a global 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. The new superbug carries a bacteria-jumping gene that makes infections impervious to the most powerful antibiotics accessible. Experts have said that more should be done by governments to encourage more investment from Big Pharma for antibiotic research, instead of going after easy profits for popular conditions like erectile dysfunction.
Superbug gene makes deadly bacteria drug-resistant
A new superbug infection set off alarms that it could spread worldwide after reaching Britain from India via medical tourism. Scientists say you will find almost no drugs to treat it. Reuters reports that a newly found gene– New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase, or NDM-1-has been found by researchers in individuals in both south Asia and also 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. Drug experts say the research pipeline has no new antibiotics in progress to suppress 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 seeks to spread and diversify
In an article published online Wednesday within 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 the superbug gene has been identified in 37 people in Britain with drug-resistant bacterial infections after having plastic surgery in India or Pakistan. Medical researchers in Australia, Canada, the U.S., the Netherlands and Sweden have also detected the superbug gene . The superbug gene is found on DNA structures, called plasmids, that can be easily copied and transferred between bacteria, giving the superbug “an alarming potential to spread and diversify,” the authors said.
Cash motivates Large Pharma
The pharmaceutical industry isn’t really motivated to fight superbugs. New antibiotics aren’t marketable long enough to make sufficient profits because bacteria evolve so quickly . The Wall Street Journal reports that to ensure they get an adequate return on investment to shareholders for addressing a world-wide health threat, some pharmaceutical companies are looking for government subsidies. Pharmaceutical companies also blame strict research and development demands from official regulators that cut into potential profits. Even so, some large drug makers are engaged in antibiotic research, including Pfizer and Merck in the Americas, Novartis in Switzerland and GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca in 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
