Drug-resistant superbug claims its first victim

THE first death has been reported from the drug-resistant superbug originating in South Asia.

The victim was infected by the bacteria while being treated in a hospital in Pakistan, according to a microbiologist from Az Vub hospital in Brussels, Dr Denis Pierard.

“He was involved in a car accident during a trip to Pakistan. He was hospitalised with a major leg injury and then repatriated to Belgium, but he was already infected,” the doctor said.

Despite the patient being administered colistin, a powerful antibiotic, he died.

The superbug – a bacterial gene called New Delhi metallo-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) – was first identified last year in a Swedish patient admitted to hospital in India.

Yesterday, India hit out at a British study which said medical tourists to the country had caught the superbug helping it spread across the globe.

The Indian health ministry said such organisms were found universally, and also attacked the naming of the gene after New Delhi.

“India strongly refutes the naming of this enzyme as New Delhi metallo beta lactamase and also refutes hospitals in India are not safe for treatment, including medical tourism.”

The ministry said the study amounted to scaremongering, with some politicians claiming a conspiracy against the country’s medical tourism industry.

The study by British and international researchers claimed the bug spread originally in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, but has been found in 37 British patients who travelled to those countries for medical procedures such as cosmetic surgery.

The researchers also found 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 with international travel for “health tourism” on the rise, the superbug could spread around the world.

“The potential of NDM-1 to be a worldwide public health problem is great. 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 study.

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

Consultant microbiologist at the HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre Dr Fidelma Fitzpatrick said no trace of NDM-1 had been found in Ireland.