South Asians bring superbug back to U.K from India and Bangladesh

The benifits of multicultralism are seemingly endless!

This should go well combined with Muslim women NHS workers who don't scrub their forearms when entering wards.

The Express reports Drug-resistant bacteria could end the use of antibiotics, scientists have warned

Wednesday August 11,2010

International travel and medical tourism helped the spread of drug-resistant bacteria that could lead to the end of antibiotics, scientists have warned.

A new gene, NDM-1, emerged which allows bacteria to be highly resistant to almost all antibiotics, the scientists said.

NDM-1 spread in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. But it was also found in 37 patients from the UK, who travelled to India or Pakistan for medical procedures including cosmetic surgery, according to an article published in The Lancet.

"The potential of NDM-1 to be a worldwide public health problem is great, and co-ordinated international surveillance is needed," Timothy Walsh of Cardiff University and his international colleagues wrote.

The gene was mostly found in E Coli, a common cause of urinary tract infections and pneumonia, which is highly resistant to antibiotics. The authors said it could be easily copied and transferred between different bacteria, suggesting "an alarming potential to spread and diversify among bacterial populations". Read more