Travelers May Spread Drug-Resistance Gene From South Asia
26 April 2011
Scientists estimate that about 100 million Indians with the NDM-1 bacteria are traveling around the world
This is the VOA Special English Health Report.
Scientists say they have found dangerous forms of bacteria in the drinking water of New Delhi, India. The bacteria has a gene scientists call New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase, or NDM-1. The gene is dangerous because it can make bacteria resistant to antibiotic drugs.
Researchers from the University of Cardiff in Britain led the study. They found the NDM-1 bacteria present in two of fifty drinking water samples. They also found it in seepage water – the water that children might play in on streets. The gene was found in eleven bacterial species, including those that cause cholera and dysentery, a diarrheal disease.
The researchers also reported finding NDM-1 in bacteria from medical patients. The patients were from India and other South Asian countries, Europe and North America.
The scientists now estimate that about one hundred million Indians with the bacteria are traveling around the world. Timothy Walsh leads the NDM-1 research at University of Cardiff. He says he is concerned about the gene spreading.
TIMOTHY WALSH: “The gene pool in India, Pakistan, probably Bangladesh and even Sri Lanka, is absolutely huge. Wherever these people travel they carry their normal flora with them, one hundred trillion bacteria. Therefore the ultimate consequence of this is it can spread worldwide.”
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