Japan confirms first case of NDM-1 gene, the antibiotics-resistant superbug
September 7th, 2010 - 9:33 pm ICT by BNO NewsTOCHIGI, JAPAN (BNO NEWS) – Japan confirmed the first case of the NDM-1 gene, which is resistant to almost all antibiotics, officials said.
The bacterium was found in a male patient in his 50s at the Dokkyo Medical University Hospital in Togichi Prefecture. The infected man was hospitalized in May after returning from India. He was discharged after being treated and fully recovering.
NDM-1, whose full name is New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1, is an enzyme that can turn bacteria into superbugs resistant to antibiotics. It has also been detected in India, the United States and Europe.
The superbug can spread easily from one kind of intestinal bacterium to another even among healthy people, causing pneumonia and other diseases if it spreads to more highly pathogenic bacteria.
Medical experts are concerned about the risk posed by poisonous bacteria such as salmonella and dysentery bacillus of becoming resistant to antibiotics as a result of becoming superbugs.
The Japanese Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry instructed medical institutions to report suspicious cases to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases. It also urged medical institutions to take measures to prevent spreading of superbugs among patients.
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Tags: antibiotics, bacillus, bacterium, beta lactamase, bno, dokkyo, dysentery, infectious diseases, japanese health, male patient, medical experts, medical institutions, medical university hospital, metallo, pathogenic bacteria, poisonous bacteria, prefecture, salmonella, tochigi japan, welfare ministry