NEW SUPERBUG FOUND
NDM-1, or New
Delhi
Metallo-betalactamase, is a newly
found mutation in bacteria
that causes bacteria to
become super resistant to
antibiotics. This means
that we cannot fight the
disease, and there is no
known way of killing it.
NDM-1
is
extremely
dangerous for this reason.
If an outbreak of NDM-1
occurred, there may be no
stopping it.
NDM-1 is only a
mutation of bacteria. It is
not actually its own
disease, but a variation of
diseases. So far, NDM-1
has only been found in E.
Coli
and
Klebsiella
pneumonia. It causes the
affected
bacteria
to
become super resistant to
antibiotics and also makes
them more lethal. E. Coli is
a bacteria that often
causes
urinary
tract
infections.
Antibioticresistant E. Coli may also
be responsible for fatal
cases of pneumonia and
other infections. The other
affected
disease,
Klebsiella pneumonia, has
symptoms that include
sudden onset of high
fever, and hemoptysis.
Klebsiella pneumonia is
also known for causing
urinary tract infections,
intraabdominal infections,
and
nosocomial
pneumonia. If you are
experiencing any of the
above symptoms be sure
to contact your doctor
immediately.
NDM-1
was
widespread in India before
scientists discovered much
about it. It wasn’t until
Dr.Timothy
Walsh
observed a case in
America that real research
was conducted. Walsh’s
team concluded that NDM1 (New-Delhi-metallo-betalactamase) was a mutation
that occurred on many
different types of bacteria.
This mutation made an
enzyme that counteracted
the
effects
of
carbapenems.
Carbapenems are a type
of antibiotic that inhibits
the synthesis of bacterial
cell walls. This effectively
kills the bacteria because
this organelle is necessary
for
their
survival.
Carbapenems
were
considered one of the
strongest
classes
of
antibiotics and NDM-1 is
making
Bacteria
completely immune to it as
well as a wide variation of
other antibiotics. NDM-1
spreads easily between
Bacteria species because
it travels on a plasmid or a
loop of DNA that can be
copied and traded easily
during
conjunction.
In
order to fight NDM-1 and
other superbugs there a
few steps that need to be
taken. One is to stop
unnecessarily
pumping
antibiotics
into
our
livestock. 80% of all
antibiotics in the United
States are being given to
livestock. Farmers are
giving
their
animals
antibiotics in mass before
they are infected instead
of waiting until the animal
is
infected
and
administering
the
appropriate
dosage.
Another
reason
that
farmers are administering
large
amounts
of
antibiotics to animals is
because they often raise
the animal’s growth rate
causing them to mature
faster which is good for
business. This causes an
enormous demand on
bacteria to mutate and
develop new strains that
are resistant to these
drugs. So by lowering this
rate of distribution it is
possible to slow the
development
of
new
superbugs.
A
second
space
age
seeming
method is called phage
therapy,
this
is
the
engineering of new viruses
that
would
prey
on
bacteria and kill them
within infected humans.
This method has not
received the necessary
funding for it to make any
real progress yet. By not
feeding our livestock so
many antibiotics, and the
funding of phage therapy
we
can
fight
these
mutations and superbugs.
NDM-1 is found on a on
the plasmids of DNA, on
an extra chromosomal
loop.
This allows the
mutation to be traded
easily among other DNA.
It is passed freely from
one strain to the next.
Due to the mutation
producing an enzyme that
will counteract with an
antibiotic, it is found to
spread on people who are
receiving
antibiotic
treatments. In order to
stop the spread of the
mutation, tests need to be
ran in order to find out
which antibiotics NDM-1 is
not resistant to. Looking
at the antibiotic resistant
patterns can help to
determine this. Scientists
perform tests growing
isolated bacteria strains of
NDM-1 with the presence
of disks containing the
antibiotic.
Bacteria that
are
resistant
to the
antibacterial will continue
to grow up to the edge of
the disk, but if the
antibiotic is susceptible to
the bacteria a clear white
space is left around the
disk, showing the stop of
growth. Some common
susceptible antibiotics to
NDM-1 are Colistin, and
Tigecycline,
Aztreonam.
Colistin specifically helps
fight NDM-1 because of its
toxicity, as well as it has
not been used in the past
few decades. There has
been a new antibiotic
made to help stop the
replication of NDM-1, but it
has not been clinically
tested, and has yet to be
found in drug stores.