Drug resistant bacteria has emerged for a long time since antibiotics have been invented . “New ‘superbug’ found in UK hospital” from BBC News is a topic that is concerning because there is no effective way to treat these bacteria in this moment.
In the news, The National Health Service of UK reported the new strain of a bacteria in which contains NDM-1 enzyme from patients who traveled abroad to countries like India and Pakistan for various treatment such as cosmetic surgery. This enzyme leads to resistent to one of the most powerful antibiotic - carbapenem. Although most of the bacteria carrying NDM-1 was treated effectively using a combination of different antibiotics in the past, there are no effective antibiotics to treat these bacteria at the present . Moreover, these bacteria can spread rapidly from person to person and consequently become difficult to control leading to aserious global public health problem.
In my opinion, since the bacteria carrying NDM-1 enzyme were found among patients who received treatment such as cosmetic surgery abroad. This implies that the patients were exposed to this bacteria from the hospitals. This is called “nosocomial infection” which is much more dangerous than community acquired infection because antibiotics that are used in the hospital are more potent than over the counter antibiotics . The bacteria has to adapt itself selves to survive in this situation, leading to antibiotic resistance . There are many mechanisms to protect bacteria from being eliminated and NDM-1 enzyme is one of them. Drug resistance bacteria is a serious problem today and it is one of the common complication causing death in the hospital. To decrease this incident, the hospitals must be strict to the infectious control program such as hand washing, equipment sterilization and using appropriate antibiotics. The cooperation of everybody including heathcare personnel, patients and the relatives of patients is a key factor to make this program successful
New ‘Superbug’ found in UK hospitals. (2010, August 11). BBC News .Retrieved August 13, 2010, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10925411
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ReplyDeleteI also read that report. It seems to me strong evidence for how quickly evolution can work in living things. And perhaps also how fragile our world is if a highly resistant disease manages to spread quickly.