A Belgian man became the first known fatality of a drug-resistant “superbug” originating in South Asia, reinforcing fears the germ could spread worldwide after infecting dozens of people in Britain and Australia.
The unnamed patient became infected while hospitalized in Pakistan and died in June, a doctor from the Brussels hospital where he had been treated told Belgian media on Friday.
“He was involved in a car accident during a trip to Pakistan. He was hospitalized with a major leg injury and then repatriated to Belgium, but he was already infected,” the doctor said.
Despite being administered colistin, a powerful antibiotic, the patient died, the doctor said.
A second Belgian picked up the bug after being hospitalized following an accident during a trip to his native Montenegro, but recovered with treatment back in Belgium last month, another expert said on Friday.
“The epicenter of the presence of this bacteria seems to be India and Pakistan, but it appears through contact and travel, its spread is becoming wider,” said Youri Glupczynski, a bacteriologist from the University of Leuven.
The superbug comprises a bacterium containing an enzyme gene called New Delhi metallo-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) that makes it impervious to treatment by almost all antibiotics.
These include drugs known as carbapenems, which are often used as a last resort.
A British journal, The Lancet Infectious Diseases, reported this week that bacteria containing the NDM-1 gene had been found in 37 Britons who had received medical treatment in South Asia.
It said health tourists visiting South Asia risked infection and warned the superbug could spread.
Three cases have been identified in Australia among people who had traveled to India for surgery, said Peter Collignon, the head of Canberra Hospital’s infectious diseases department.
Patrice Nordmann, who heads a unit specializing in antibiotic resistance at France’s National Institute of Health and Medical Research, said that the number of real cases was bound to be “certainly higher” than the notified tally.
“There is a large potential reservoir,” given the huge population of southern Asia, he said.
The NDM-1 gene is a special worry because it is found in plasmids — DNA structures that can easily be copied and then transferred promiscuously among different types of bacteria.
These include **Escherichia coli**, the commonest cause of urinary tract infections, and **Klebsiella pneumoniae**, which causes lung and wound infections and is generated mainly in hospitals.
The European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases said no new antibiotics to treat NDM-1 infections were likely to be available for at least 10 years.
National health watchdogs had to step up monitoring efforts and pool data to track where the infections were occurring and respond to the threat, it said.
The **Lancet** study sparked a furious response from India.
“To link this with the safety of surgery in hospitals in India and citing isolated examples to show that ... India is not a safe place to visit, is wrong,” the Indian health ministry said in a statement Friday.
But it also emerged that a team of Indian researchers had warned of the superbug in March.
Researchers from the private Hinduja hospital in Mumbai studied 24 infection cases between August and November last year and said they found 22 incidents of NDM-1 bacteria.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS