The new super germ NDM-1

Resistant bacteria that do not start on antibiotics: In Germany, the NDM-1 germ has already been detected in four patients.

(17.08.2010) Resistant bacteria are not real news. For some time, doctors have been watching with concern that whole bacterial strains develop resistance to antibiotic drugs. But a new germ called NDM-1 is currently unsettling scientists and patients alike. The imported from Pakistan and India "super germ" has already been diagnosed in Germany. The NDM-1 germ does not appear to respond to so-called reserve antibiotics of carbapenems. This makes treatment of patients almost hopeless.

Resistant bacteria have known medicine for about 20 years.
Bacteria resistant to antibiotics are not real news. It has been observed for some 20 years that more and more bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics. Clinics have since been struggling with so-called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Because resistant bacteria are very easy to grow. For example, if patients do not take the required amount of prescribed antibiotic drugs to the end, resistance may develop. Also, the inflationary use of the drugs promotes antibiotic resistance.

Multi-resistant "super germ" NDM-1 also detected in Germany.
In Germany, the multi-resistant "super-germ" NDM-1 (New Delhi Metallo-Beta-Lactamase) has now been detected for the first time. According to official statements from the Robert Koch Institute, four people are said to have already been infected with the NDM-1 germ. A treatment with the reserve antibiotics of carbapenems achieved no effect. It is an enzyme that allows the bacteria to survive attack by carbapenems. Thus, it is not a new microbe, but a gene that scientists have currently detected mainly in two germs - "Escherichia coli" and "Klebsiella pneumoniae". These two microbes settle in the human intestine, or in the intestinal flora. These pathogens may cause disease under certain circumstances. The germ "Escherichia coli" mainly causes (cystitis) and "Klebsiella pneumoniae" can lead to pneumonia. This enzyme has been proven in many enterobacteria in India and Pakistan. It is easily transferred between the bacteria in plasmids.

The special feature of the germ is that they can exchange parts of the genetic material with other bacterial strains and thus a resistance to an antibiotic can relatively easily migrate to other bacteria. There is a risk that more and more bacteria become resistant to drugs. The problem should therefore not be taken lightly, as some scientists and physicians admonish.

Where does the NDM-1 germ come from and how did it come about??
But where does the NDM-1 pathogen come from? For the first time, Swedish physicians discovered the pathogen in a patient in Sweden. The person concerned had just returned from a trip back from India. Meanwhile, it has turned out that NDM-1 is mainly distributed in India and Pakistan. In India, NDM-1 has been detected in many enterobacteria. Due to the fact that more and more people are traveling to these countries, it can be assumed that a spread in Germany will rise rapidly in the future as well.

There is another peculiarity in Pakistan and India. The resistant bacteria are spread not only within clinics, but also often outside of hospitals from human-to-human. This is an important indication that the bacteria are spreading more and more frequently and more rapidly. Monitoring or containment is therefore hardly possible anymore.

But how did that happen? In Germany, antibiotics are over-prescribed too often before the body can activate its self-healing powers. Experts in natural medicine, but also scientists have long criticized the almost inflationary use of antibiotics. According to a study from 2008, too many antibiotics are prescribed in Germany and too often reserve antibiotics are used. But the situation in India and other countries is even more dramatic: in India, patients do not even need a doctor's prescription to buy antibiotics. The people in India take the drugs too often and too early. In addition, the drug is often not taken to instruction and thus discontinued too early. Hereby the bacteria can develop further and under certain circumstances develop a resistance.

Spread of the pathogen throughout the world.
In the last week, we already reported some cases of illness that have occurred in the UK. Most of the patients were previously in Asia, many of them were also in the countries in hospitals. Other NDM-1 cases include Europe as well as countries such as Canada, the USA and Australia. In July this year, a patient in Belgium died as a result of a resistant germ infection. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), four cases have become officially known in Germany so far.

Often wrong application of antibiotics causes resistance of the germs.
The proliferation and spread of the resistant bacteria shows how carelessly many people treat medicines. Many believe that you only have to swallow enough medicine and everything will be fine again. Alternative treatments are still rejected by many physicians and patients, although nature offers many treatment options. Many people prefer to use antibiotics and give the body no chance of a self-healing effect of the immune system. In many diseases antibiotics are indispensable. With just as many diseases, the use of antibiotics is completely covered. The more antibiotics are swallowed, the more resistance is also promoted.

No new antibiotic in sight.
A new antibiotic drug against the NDM-1 germ is not in sight. For in the last 10 years hardly anything has changed in this field. The main reason for this is that the pharmaceutical companies have hardly invested in the research of new antibiotics, because simply can not earn enough money. While patients take medications for Alzheimer's, high blood pressure, diabetes or other diseases permanently, antibiotics are only taken for a while. This results in a lower profit for the drug manufacturers. Wolfgang Wohlleben of the University of Tübingen says: "All major pharmaceutical companies have withdrawn from research."

According to the expert Wohlleben research is therefore carried out only in scientific working groups and small pharmaceutical companies. Although some of them have already developed new antibiotics, it usually takes up to 10 years before the drug appears on the drug market. Whether and how long it actually takes, Wohlleben did not want to commit to that. Other researchers predict that it will take at least 10 to 20 years for an effective drug to be launched against the NDM-1 pathogen. (Sb)

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Resistant bacteria in German hospitals
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