Denmark has become the latest country to report a case of a deadly superbug that is sweeping the world. According to reports in the country’s media, a 57-year-old woman contracted New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamese-1 (NDM-1) while hospitalised in Bosnia-Herzegovina for blood poisoning.
The virus, which is resistant to almost all treatment, has so far been detected in 13 countries around the world, including Germany, Australia, Japan, Kenya, Oman, the USA, Canada, Norway and Sweden. Seven people are thought to have died because of the infection.
NDM-1 is thought to have spread to so many different countries mainly due to the craze for medical tourism. People from all over the world have been flocking to India and other Asian countries for routine medical procedures and plastic surgery due to a high level of medical expertise and low prices.
Britain has the most reported cases of the bug, with nearly all patients thought to have contracted infections while undergoing hospital procedures in the Balkans and India. The NDM-1 enzyme is found in a variety of bacteria and has been discovered to be resistant to all but two antibiotic treatments.
Professor Niels Frimodt-Moller from the National Serum Institute in Denmark said it was a concern that their case seems to have originated in Bosnia-Herzegovina. He added that although he does not wish to paint to bleak a picture, there is cause for concern.
Robert Jones