After UK, Australia, ‘Indian’ superbug hits Canada
By ANIThursday, August 12, 2010
TORONTO - The superbug, which is resistant to almost all antibiotics, has hit Canada after Australia and UK.
At least two Canadians have become infected with the dangerous new superbug from India that is spreading around the world, partly due to medical tourism.
The superbug has Canadian public-health experts bracing for outbreaks.
“There will be others. It’s just a matter of time,” the Globe and Mail quoted Dylan Pillai, a medical microbiologist at the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion as saying.
“It’s just the nature of the beast.”
Researchers reported dozens of cases of British, Indian and Pakistani patients who contracted infections caused by bacteria harbouring an enzyme called New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase, or NDM-1, in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
Of 29 Britons, more than half had recently travelled to India or Pakistan and 14 had been admitted to hospitals in the subcontinent, where the drug-resistant enzyme originated, including for kidney transplants and cosmetic surgery.
Two cases have been confirmed among Canadians who spent time in India.
In addition, the drug-resistant infection has been found in patients from the United States, Sweden, the Netherlands and Australia. (ANI)
