On Tuesday, the World Health Organization declared an end to the dreaded swine flu epidemic. Just as it looked like the government funding gravy train was going off the tracks, scientists have discovered a new disease that’s going to kill every man, woman, child on the face of the earth. Whew! Just in the nick of time.
Reuters has the details of the deadly disease:
A new superbug could spread around the world after reaching Britain from India — in part because of medical tourism — and scientists say there are almost no drugs to treat it.
Researchers said on Wednesday they had found a new gene called New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase, or NDM-1, in patients in South Asia and in Britain.
NDM-1 makes bacteria highly resistant to almost all antibiotics, including the most powerful class called carbapenems, and experts say there are no new drugs on the horizon to tackle it.
Should you be worried? Could you and your loved ones die? And should the government begin cutting some big, fat checks for some big, fat research?
“At a global level, this is a real concern,” Walsh, from Britain’s Cardiff University, said in telephone interview.
“Because of medical tourism and international travel in general, resistance to these types of bacteria has the potential to spread around the world very, very quickly. And there is nothing in the (drug development) pipeline to tackle it.”
Quick! Fund some expensive research. It’s not just a bug, damn it, it’s a superbug!
Source: Reuters
