Drug resistant superbugs found in 3 states, thought to have started in India.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/201009...erbug_gene

Super nasty new bacteria is coming our way. Drug resist and already in 3 states. Some scary stuff. Doctors can't use antibotics, even the most powerful ones. They are resorting to polymyxins - this stuff can work but destroys your kidneys in the process. "An infectious-disease nightmare is unfolding: Bacteria that have been made resistant to nearly all antibiotics by an alarming new gene have sickened people in three states and are popping up all over the world, health officials reported Monday.

The U.S. cases and two others in Canada all involve people who had recently received medical care in India, where the problem is widespread. A British medical journal revealed the risk last month in an article describing dozens of cases in Britain in people who had gone to India for medical procedures." What can people do?Don't add to the drug resistance problem, experts say. Don't pressure your doctors for antibiotics if they say they aren't needed, use the ones you are given properly, and try to avoid infections by washing your hands.The gene is carried by bacteria that can spread hand-to-mouth, which makes good hygiene very important.

It's also why health officials are so concerned about where the threat is coming from, said Dr. Patrice Nordmann, a microbiology professor at South-Paris Medical School. India is an overpopulated country that overuses antibiotics and has widespread diarrheal disease and many people without clean water.

Superbugs have been in the US for a while.

http://www.vwma.net.au/sb_clients...perbug.jpg

It's all lie to hurt medical tourism in India.
It's ridiculous to see a simple blood test to cost thousands of dollars! Same-thing goes with prescription drugs/ health insurance. A simple surgery costs thousands of dollars here!

Quote from a news report,
"Around 50 lakh foreign patients come to India for medical travel and their footfall has not dropped post the Lancet study.
Brinda from the US is in Mumbai for a hip replacement surgery. When asked if the superbug scare bothered her, she said: "We knew it was hugely exaggerated. My husband is a journalist, we know what to trust what not to."
She added: "I know there are more bugs in my country than elsewhere. What matters is the care you get and that has been better than what I could've got in the US and at a third of the cost.""

Quote from pdffree : It's all lie to hurt medical tourism in India.

Instead we should believe the Indian health ministry's hand waving?

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/08...index.html

Yeaaaaaah, that makes soooo much more sense.

This is what happens when you go to the emergency room for a cough and the doctor prescribes anti-biotics. You don't freakin need medicine for every little sniffle!

Quote from shhaggy : This is what happens when you go to the emergency room for a cough and the doctor prescribes anti-biotics. You don't freakin need medicine for every little sniffle!

This infection did not originate in the US. Have you proof that the Indian population was going to the ER, being admitted and given IV Carbapenem class antibiotics routinely?

Hint: The NDM-1 gene that is causing this problem neutralizes Carbapenem antibiotics for the "enhanced" bacteria alone. So when you administer IV Carbapenem antibiotics (there is no effective oral administration), the antibiotics clear your system of other infections and giving the NDM-1 "enhanced" bacteria no competition and no effective antibiotic to fight it.

Quote from redmaxx : This infection did not originate in the US. Have you proof that the Indian population was going to the ER, being admitted and given IV Carbapenem class antibiotics routinely? Hint: The NDM-1 gene that is causing this problem neutralizes Carbapenem antibiotics for the "enhanced" bacteria alone. So when you administer IV Carbapenem antibiotics (there is no effective oral administration), the antibiotics clear your system of other infections and giving the NDM-1 "enhanced" bacteria no competition and no effective antibiotic to fight it.

It was more of a general statement, not a direct causation relating to this particular case.

Quote from redmaxx : Have you proof that the Indian population was going to the ER, being admitted and given IV Carbapenem class antibiotics routinely?

from the article

Quote : India is an overpopulated country that overuses antibiotics and has widespread diarrheal disease and many people without clean water.

I was just discussing this issue with an indian doctor the other day and he [correctly] stated that doctors in India overprescribe antibiotics. Anyway the important thing is nobody has died in the US from it, and with some cleanliness chances of infection can decrease.