Virus resistant to antibiotics spread by ‘health tourists’

PEOPLE travelling to countries like Pakistan and India are bringing back with them a new superbug that is resistant to almost all antibiotics.

The gene, called New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase (NDM-1), spread originally in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, but has now been found in 37 British patients who travelled to those countries for medical procedures such as cosmetic surgery.

The team of British and international researchers who discovered the new gene, found that in some cases, it allowed bacteria to be highly resistant to almost all antibiotics.

The gene was mostly found in e-coli, a common cause of urinary tract infections, a condition highly resistant to antibiotics.

Researchers said the gene could be easily copied and transferred between different bacteria, meaning the gene has “an alarming potential to spread and diversify among bacterial populations”.

The authors of the report, published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, fear that with international travel for “health tourism” on the rise, the superbug could spread around the world.

Apart from Britain, the drug-resistant gene has also been detected in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, the US and Sweden.

According to Dr Timothy Walsh of Cardiff University, the fact that many Americans and Europeans travel to India and Pakistan for elective procedures like cosmetic surgery increased the potential of the superbug to spread across the globe.

“The potential of NDM-1 to be a worldwide public health problem is great, and coordinated international surveillance is needed... India also provides cosmetic surgery for other Europeans and Americans, and it is likely NDM-1 will spread worldwide,” said the report.

Consultant microbiologist at the HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre in relation to NDM-1, Dr Fidelma Fitzpatrick, said no trace of NDM-1 had been found in Ireland and pointed out measures to control the spread of the bacteria.

“The HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre in conjunction with microbiologists and laboratories monitor antibiotic resistance in bacteria from the bloodstream as part of the European-EARS-Net programme,” she said.

“To date, no NDM-1 isolates have been reported to HPSC.

“Measures to prevent the emergence and spread of this bacteria include ongoing surveillance, good antibiotic stewardship to prevent overuse or inappropriate use of antibiotics and good hygiene including hand washing and environmental cleaning.”