Some 77 cases of a multi-drug resistant "superbug" from India first reported in Britain in August have now been detected in 13 European countries, a scientist at the EU's disease watchdog said on Wednesday. NDM-1 is a gene carried by bacteria that alters them and makes then resistant to almost all known antibiotics. It can manifest itself in many different ways and is often found in bacteria like Klebsiella pneumonia and E-coli, both of which can cause urinary tract infections and pneumonia. U.S. health officials said at the same time that three cases had been detected in the United States.
Dominique Monnet of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said he was very worried by the emergence of NDM-1, or New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase, and other bugs like it that are resistant to even the most powerful class of antibiotics, known as carbapenems. "I know people are calling this NDM-1 a superbug, but for me NDM-1 and bacteria like it are more than superbugs. We're talking about super superbugs," Monnet said in a telephone interview from Stockholm, where the ECDC is based.
"For a long time... doctors in hospitals, especially in intensive care units, have relied on the carbapenems as the last line of antibiotic treatment. Now, for doctors facing a patient infected with a bacteria that is resistant to carbapenems, the options for treatment are limited."
For more: Super superbug NDM-1 spreads in Europe | Reuters
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