New Drug-Resistant 'Superbug' Claims First Life
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A new "superbug" that originated in South Asia, has claimed the life of a Belgian man. It’s the first reported death from the drug-resistant bacteria, Agence France-Presses reported.
The man became infected while he was being treated at a hospital in Pakistan.
"He was involved in a car accident during a trip to Pakistan,” Denis Pierard, a microbiologist from AZ VUB hospital in Brussels, where the man had been treated since June, told Belgian media. "He was hospitalized with a major leg injury."
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Pierard said the man then returned to Belgium, but he was already infected. Doctors administered a powerful antibiotic, but it was no help, and the patient died.
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.
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Click here to read more from AFP.
Reuters contributed to this report.