A new strain of bacteria has been detected entering hospitals in the United Kingdom, resistant to the most powerful of antibiotics. This super bug as it’s being coined, originated from people traveling to foreign countries seeking cosmetic surgery procedures. To date there have been roughly fifty cases of infection with this new bug that have been identified in the UK. Doctors and scientists fear that it may spread globally on a pandemic scale without any way to treat cases of the infection.
Unlike most bacterium, this super strain produces an enzyme called New Delhi-Metallo-1 or NDM-1 for short. It is this enzyme that makes bacteria resistant to antibiotics. The major concern is that the generic sequencing that creates the enzyme can be copied and transferred to other bacteria making them resistant to antibiotics as well. Most notably in E. coli bacteria.
The new super bacteria has been found in patients traveling to parts of Asia for cosmetic surgery, organ transplantation and cancer treatment.
The enzyme antibiotic inhibitor can easily migrate from one strain of bacteria to another. Most experts are in agreement that it will begin attaching itself to more serious diseases making them resistant to antibiotics as well.
According to the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, this enzyme enhancement has the potential ability to diversify and spread. One researcher pessimistically stated, “The this will get progressively worse in the foreseeable future.” “This is potentially the end. There are no antibiotics in the pipeline.”