Intellectual Thoughts by Sanjay Panda: August 2010


Superbug


Medical tourism may not be safe in India because the ‘superbug’ possibly originated in India suggested a British  publication and further went on naming notoriously  “New Delhi metallo-blactamase (NDM-1). The growth in the flow of patients from the developed to the low cost developing world for medical treatment has consistently worried the medical fraternity in the West.  In order to slowdown the  patients flow the west came up with the story which  sponsored by  European Union,  The Wellcome Trust, and drugmaker Wyeth  who markets the superbug antibiotic Tygacil  (tigecycline) .

Such antibiotic resistant bacteria have been reported everywhere in the world, including in the UK, the US and the entire developed world for decades. The NDM-1, for instance, has even been detected in Canada, Australia, The Netherlands and Sweden.   So why India to be blamed. Similarly   genesis of MRSA is in the West . So was  West was blamed for a disease that affects the entire world.

Rather than creating controversies around the origin of the bacteria, it is better to focus on the lack of interest among pharma companies to develop superdrugs for such superbugs.