Superbacteria alarm the world

• April 27, 2024

The last decades have been testimony of the it was the superbugs , from the Staphylococcus aureus,the organism ESKAPE, S. aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, among others. This status is not due to a greater pathogenic nature, but to its resistance in front of antibiotics , publish The New Enlgand Journal of Medicine.

The most recent report on the discovery of a superbug was released in August 2010. It was named NDM-1, it's a type of enzyme called "New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase", Identified since 2009 in some strains of bacteria . This enzyme was the first one capable of destroying the penicillin. Today, there are more than 890 resistant enzymes discovered.

NDM-1 is not just one species of bacteria, but a transferable genetic element which contains within its code, genes resistant to various types of antibiotics Several examples have been found in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and England.

The rapid spread of these organisms alerted international authorities, since many of them are resistant to all antibiotics except the polymixina .

The concern about the growing resistance to antibiotics is not new. More than 50 years ago the experts already knew the most important principles that involved the nature, dissemination and potential control for resistance to antibiotics, which were and are the same:

• The role of inappropriate use of the antibiotics to select resistant organisms
• The ability of organisms resistant to spread in the hospitals
• The value in restricting the use of antibiotics in the hospital as Control measure

Although the knowledge of alarm It is public and governments have made various efforts to implement methods of prevention and control of the superbugs , success has been very limited, so it is necessary to raise awareness about their responsible and necessary use.