Superbugs: India and the Rise of Drug-Resistant Germs

By ⋅ May 8, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment
Color-enhanced scanning electron micrograph showing Salmonella typhimurium (red) invading cultured human cells. (Photo: Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIAID, NIH)

Color-enhanced scanning electron micrograph showing Salmonella typhimurium (red) invading cultured human cells. (Photo: Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIAID, NIH)

Antibiotics have saved countless lives since the discovery of penicillin in the 1920s, but many germs are developing resistance to the drugs. It’s a global problem, yet one country – India – may play an especially large role in fueling it.

Marco Werman speaks with health reporter Jason Gale, whose story on the topic appears in the June issue of Bloomberg Markets Magazine.

“The thing about India which makes it unique, I think, is that when you look at the drivers of drug resistance, India pretty much ticks every single box,” Gale says. He points to India’s booming generic drug industry, which has fostered the widespread overuse of antibiotics and is causing bacteria to develop resistance to the drugs.

In addition, Gale says, India’s lack of toilets allows germs to spread easily from people, into the environment, and back to people. And India’s role as a medical tourism hub could expose people worldwide to the resistant microbes.


Discussion

3 comments for “Superbugs: India and the Rise of Drug-Resistant Germs”

  • TyrantInShorts

    This is tabloid journalism full of cliches and pseudo science. First of all, the only solid example given by the researcher regarding India is the NDM virus, which is a 2-3 year old story – old news.

    This piece should have at least explored the Indian government’s contention that there is a multinational drug company agenda behind these claims of Indians getting resistant due to cheap / poorly restricted antibiotics in the Indian market. The reason is that India has a huge generic drug industry that supplies cheap drugs to most of the developing world, and big pharma wants to shut it down for obvious reasons.

    The people who originally came up with the NDM 1 story actually apologised to the Indian government for the nomenclature, something that was also not mentioned. Even a simple wikipedia check would have provided your team with perspective : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Delhi_metallo-beta-lactamase_1
    The ’50% access to toilets’ is a commonly stated soundbite that comes up on every second discussion regarding India regardless of whether its about outsourcing or bollywood. Sad to hear this ‘research’ getting no critical analysis by Marco Werman and team. 

    Extremely extremely disappointed long time NPR listener.

  • http://twitter.com/stueysplace Stuart Blaber

    T-Shorts:  Old news?  Now there’s an oxymoron.  Old information often deserves repetition, especially when the recipients are skeptics.  Climate Change is ‘old news’ that needs constant repetition because we are all contributors and hence acceptance of it as real means changing our ways or killing our children’s future.  Drug resistance is just one more factor in out changing condition and it may be that drug resistance coupled with starvation due to food shortages will fuel the major population cull that is so necessary.  I don’t think it is really so bad that major drug companies are focusing on this problem.

  • Zunk Man

    I tend to agree that the motive is not to eradicate the bacteria right when it was named NDM1. Really concerned people would approach it in a manner that demonstrates inclusion of the affected group. Not by calling names that tarnishes ones image and isolates them. It smacks of some hidden agenda that delivers benefits to a few pharmaceutical companies in Switzerland.