Europe 'losing' superbugs battle

The emergence of antibiotic-resistant infections has reached unprecedented levels and now outstrips our ability to fight it with existing drugs, European health experts are warning.

Each year in the EU over 25,000 people die of bacterial infections that are able to outsmart even the newest antibiotics.

The World Health Organization says the situation has reached a critical point.

A united push to make new drugs is urgently needed, it says.

Without a concerted effort, people could be dealing with the "nightmare scenario" of worldwide spread of untreatable infections, says the WHO. 

One example is the New Delhi or NDM-1 superbug recently found in UK patients.

They brought the infection back with them from countries like India and Pakistan, where they had visited for medical treatment and cosmetic surgery.

Becoming untreatable

These superbugs are resistant to carbapenem antibiotics, which is concerning for experts because they are some of our most powerful weapons and are used for hard-to-treat infections that evade other drugs.

The Cardiff University researchers, who made the discovery last August, now say bacteria with this new genetic resistance to antibiotics have contaminated New Delhi's drinking water supply, meaning millions of people there could be carriers. 

Dr Timothy Walsh and his team collected 171 swabs of seepage water and 50 public tap water samples from sites within a 12km radius of central New Delhi between September and October 2010. 

The NDM-1 gene was found in two of the 50 drinking-water samples and 51 of 171 seepage samples.

Worryingly, the gene had spread to bacteria that cause dysentery and cholera, which can be easily passed from person to person via sewage-contaminated drinking water.

"Oral-faecal transmission of bacteria is a problem worldwide, but its potential risk varies with the standards of sanitation. 

with thanks : BBC News : MUST READ COMPLETE NEWS FROM LINK ABOVE.

Superbug in Delhi's water, say UK experts

NEW DELHI: A superbug immune to almost all known antibiotics has been found in Delhi's water. British scientists said they have found the New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase (NDM) 1 gene that makes bacteria highly resistant to all known drugs in the capital's public water supply used for drinking, washing and cooking.

In August last year, after announcing the existence of this superbug created by the NDM1 gene, scientists had said it was hospital-acquired.

"Now, we know it is not present in hospital ICUs but is actually freely circulating in Delhi's environment, both in the water people drink and those that lay stagnant," Dr Mark Toleman from Cardiff university told TOI.

"Drinking contaminated water will help the superbug enter our bodies. However, we still don't know how many in the population are already carrying the superbug," Toleman said.

The most worrying factor was that the NDM1 gene had already spread to the bacteria that causes cholera and dysentery in India, the scientists said. Their findings were published in British medical journal 'The Lancet Infectious Diseases' on Thursday. 

with thanks : Times of India : MUST READ COMPLETE NEWS FROM LINK ABOVE.