UAE- Time to face the superbug threat: paper
Date
5/29/2016 2:04:30 AM
(MENAFN- Emirates News Agency (WAM))
ABU DHABI, 29th May, 2016 (WAM) -- A UAE newspaper has said that the US health officials have reported the first case in the country of a patient with an infection resistant to all known antibiotics.
"This is a matter of grave concern as the superbug could pose serious danger for routine infections if it spreads," said The Gulf Today in an editorial on Sunday.
The infection was reported in a study appearing in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, a publication of the American Society for Microbiology. It said the superbug itself had first been infected with a tiny piece of DNA called a plasmid, which passed along a gene called mcr-1 that confers resistance to colistin.
"This heralds the emergence of truly pan-drug resistant bacteria," said the study, which was conducted by the Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre. "To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of mcr-1 in the USA."
According to the World Health Organisation, antimicrobial resistance occurs when microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change in ways that render the medications used to cure the infections they cause ineffective. When the microorganisms become resistant to most antimicrobials they are often referred to as "superbugs." This is a major concern because a resistant infection may kill, can spread to others, and imposes huge costs to individuals and society.
Dr. Paul Hoskisson, a member of the Microbiology Society Council, has been quoted by The Independent as warning that the world could be as little as 10 years away from the "terrifying" point at which many infections start to become untreatable. Antimicrobial resistance is too serious an issue to be ignored.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has already called on leading countries to tackle resistance by reducing the use of antibiotics and rewarding drug companies for developing new medicines.
As he explained, in too many cases antibiotics have stopped working. That means people are dying of simple infections or conditions like TB (tuberculosis), tetanus, sepsis, infections that should not mean a death sentence.
The US case is certainly a wake-up call for the world, although it is not the first time that colistin resistance has appeared.
Cameron has a strong line of reasoning when he says, "If we do nothing about this, there will be a cumulative hit to the world economy of $100 trillion and it is potentially the end of modern medicine as we know it."
"The medical world needs to wake up to the serious threat before it gets out of hand," concluded the Sharjah-based daily.
WAM/Esraa/tfaham
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