Superbug makes first mainland appearance
By Li Xinran and Cai Wenjun |
01:36 UTC+8 October 27, 2010
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A DRUG-RESISTANT superbug has been discovered for the first time on China's, mainland with two babies and an elderly patient found to be carrying the bacteria.
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Academy of Military Medical Sciences yesterday reported that they had detected NDM-1, an enzyme called New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase, in two newborn babies in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and an elderly man from Fujian Province.
The babies, who both had low birth weights, suffered from diarrhea and respiratory infections for two or three days after delivery, but have now recovered.
The elderly patient died of lung cancer but the role NDM-1 played in his death is still unknown.
Officials from Shanghai Health Bureau said yesterday that they had not detected NDM-1 in the city and that the public should not panic.
Shanghai's Ruijin Hospital and Huashan Hospital are part of the Ministry of Health network of 19 "surveillance" hospitals which monitor and research superbugs.
Officials said monitoring had been stepped up in recent days. "Any patients failing to respond to certain standard antibiotics will undergo superbug screening," said Dr Ni Yuxing, director of the clinical microbiology department at Ruijin Hospital.
Experts say that limiting antibiotic use and taking steps to prevent infection in hospitals are the keys to superbug prevention and control.
The health ministry and Chinese Academy of Sciences are currently trying to establish how best to treat NDM-l.
"At present, there is no specific treatment for NDM-1 on the mainland," Ni said. "If the superbug is detected, treatment will be based on existing medication."
Ni said that in recent years, hospitals in Zhejiang Province, Beijing and Shanghai had found another superbug, plasmid-mediated imipenem-hydrolyzing enzyme KPC-2, with similar resistance to almost all antibiotics. Shanghai patients with KPC-2 all recovered after treatment.
NDM-l was discovered last year in a Swedish patient who had been hospitalized in New Delhi. It was then detected among Westerners who had traveled to south Asian countries for health care services or cosmetic surgery. Deaths were reported in Japan, Belgium and Britain.
A Taiwan photographer, who was shot in India and received treatment there, was confirmed as the first case of NDM-1 on the island. He has since recovered.
Meanwhile, NDM-1 had been detected in Hong Kong last October when a 66-year-old Indian man went to hospital for treatment.
The World Health Organization has warned that the NDM-1 cases could be much higher than reported.
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Academy of Military Medical Sciences yesterday reported that they had detected NDM-1, an enzyme called New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase, in two newborn babies in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and an elderly man from Fujian Province.
The babies, who both had low birth weights, suffered from diarrhea and respiratory infections for two or three days after delivery, but have now recovered.
The elderly patient died of lung cancer but the role NDM-1 played in his death is still unknown.
Officials from Shanghai Health Bureau said yesterday that they had not detected NDM-1 in the city and that the public should not panic.
Shanghai's Ruijin Hospital and Huashan Hospital are part of the Ministry of Health network of 19 "surveillance" hospitals which monitor and research superbugs.
Officials said monitoring had been stepped up in recent days. "Any patients failing to respond to certain standard antibiotics will undergo superbug screening," said Dr Ni Yuxing, director of the clinical microbiology department at Ruijin Hospital.
Experts say that limiting antibiotic use and taking steps to prevent infection in hospitals are the keys to superbug prevention and control.
The health ministry and Chinese Academy of Sciences are currently trying to establish how best to treat NDM-l.
"At present, there is no specific treatment for NDM-1 on the mainland," Ni said. "If the superbug is detected, treatment will be based on existing medication."
Ni said that in recent years, hospitals in Zhejiang Province, Beijing and Shanghai had found another superbug, plasmid-mediated imipenem-hydrolyzing enzyme KPC-2, with similar resistance to almost all antibiotics. Shanghai patients with KPC-2 all recovered after treatment.
NDM-l was discovered last year in a Swedish patient who had been hospitalized in New Delhi. It was then detected among Westerners who had traveled to south Asian countries for health care services or cosmetic surgery. Deaths were reported in Japan, Belgium and Britain.
A Taiwan photographer, who was shot in India and received treatment there, was confirmed as the first case of NDM-1 on the island. He has since recovered.
Meanwhile, NDM-1 had been detected in Hong Kong last October when a 66-year-old Indian man went to hospital for treatment.
The World Health Organization has warned that the NDM-1 cases could be much higher than reported.
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