2010-09-09 08:16
<!--enpcontent-->The country's capital will strengthen its ongoing surveillance of antibiotic resistant bacteria by establishing a network to monitor all local major medical institutions by the end of the year.
The announcement by the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau came in response to a new superbug, which first surfaced in South Asia. It is resistant to almost all antibiotics and is spreading globally.
"The new bacterium carrying the New Delhi metallo-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) gene has not been detected on the mainland so far, but it has a high probability of surfacing here due to increased international exchange," said Lu Yuan, deputy director of the institute of clinical pharmacology at Peking University.
After initially emerging in India and Pakistan, the drug-resistant bacteria has been reported in countries like Britain, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, the United States, Sweden, and Japan, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
International trips were largely responsible for the new bug spreading, since most patients in these countries had traveled to India or Pakistan, experts said.
"Given its geographic proximity to the two countries, China is also at risk of the new superbug," Lu said.
The overuse of existing antibiotics and poor sanitation in most hospitals where the superbug has been reported put China at great risk of a potential outbreak, she warned...
http://english.eastday.com/e/100909/u1a5439617.html
<!--enpcontent-->The country's capital will strengthen its ongoing surveillance of antibiotic resistant bacteria by establishing a network to monitor all local major medical institutions by the end of the year.
The announcement by the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau came in response to a new superbug, which first surfaced in South Asia. It is resistant to almost all antibiotics and is spreading globally.
"The new bacterium carrying the New Delhi metallo-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) gene has not been detected on the mainland so far, but it has a high probability of surfacing here due to increased international exchange," said Lu Yuan, deputy director of the institute of clinical pharmacology at Peking University.
After initially emerging in India and Pakistan, the drug-resistant bacteria has been reported in countries like Britain, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, the United States, Sweden, and Japan, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
International trips were largely responsible for the new bug spreading, since most patients in these countries had traveled to India or Pakistan, experts said.
"Given its geographic proximity to the two countries, China is also at risk of the new superbug," Lu said.
The overuse of existing antibiotics and poor sanitation in most hospitals where the superbug has been reported put China at great risk of a potential outbreak, she warned...