Out of Country Surgeries – New Killer Super Bug

Out of country surgery seems like such a great idea these days, especially with the none supportive incredibly ridiculous policies on gastric bypass and associated surgeries by provincial health authorities here in Canada. Why not go out of country? No waits times, considerably less costly and the surgeons are extremely qualified. But wait!  It appears that not all OOC experiences are the same. In fact, if you’re not careful, you could bring back a hitch hiker that could kill you!

A killer super bug has been discovered coming from the India sub-continent. The emergence of the New Delhi metallo-B-lactamase 1 bacteria (NDM-1) has Epidemiologists seriously concerned.

NDM-1 is resistant to every antibiotic we have or hope to have in the next 10 years. That’s right! Our current antibiotics don’t kill this bug and new antibiotics under current development won’t either.

Hitch Hiker is a good description for NDM-1. It likes to attach itself and hide inside more well know bacteria like E.Ccoli. Doctors treat and kill the E.coli but the NDM-1 isn’t touched. Often by the time it’s recognized, it has spread into the patient’s entire system. Another annoying factor is that NDM-1 seems to lay dormant in the host for months or even up to a year after a person is infected. The infection passes from patient to patient in hospital.

The UK NHS (National Health Service ) fears that as NDM-1 spreads around the world it will reach a point when it achieves critical mass and then will spread as quickly as SARS, N1H1 and other flu type diseases.

The research  for NDM-1 is published in The Lancet by researchers at Cardiff University, the Health Protection Agency and others around the world. At least 50% of cases discovered in the UK, Europe, Australia, USA and Canada have been directly linked to elective surgeries arranged and carried out in Pakistan and India. David Livermore, one of the authors of the report, says that “far and away the greater number of cases appear to be associated with travel and hospital treatment in the Indian subcontinent.” He says; “the real danger lies if it infects a bacterium that is easily and quickly transmissible.”

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