Medical Tourism Linked to Spread of Drug Resistant Bacteria NDM-1
Medical Tourism Linked to Spread of Drug Resistant Bacteria NDM-1 – People who travel from the UK to India or Pakistan may be bringing back a dangerous bacteria to the West, which is resistant to almost all antibiotics.
According to a study by Cardiff University, doctors have been seeing a specific strain of bacteria in an increasing number of patients, and treating it is becoming a major problem.
It is usually contracted from the initial spread that is passing through some countries in the East, due to British patients going abroad for faster, affordable medical or surgical procedures, including cosmetic surgery.
There are only two drugs that have been shown to work against it, but one is a 50-year-old drug that has been known to cause kidney damage, and both are at risk of quickly falling under the resisted category if the bacteria keeps spreading.
According to Tim Walsh of Cardiff University, who led the study, it could become an issue on a global problem quite quickly. They have been watching the bacteria pass from person to person since 2008, and in that time the number of people in India who have it have increased dramatically.
The enzyme has been dubbed NDM-1.
Filed Under: Offbeat News
Only one problem with the article. At the beginning it is mentioned as a bacteria. The last statement reads that it is a virus, which would of course be resistant to antibiotics as only bacterium are affected by such drugs. So which is it a bacteria or a virus?
Is NDM-1 A Bacteria Or A Virus?
NDM-1 is neither. It is an enzyme which can be found inside various bacteria. The most significant bacteriums which have been located so far containing the NDM-1 enzyme are E. coli and Klebsiella pneumonia. Both are extremely widespread bacteria which have been proven to be fatal.