Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
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A gene that makes bugs highly resistant to almost all known antibiotics has been found in bacteria
in water supplies in New Delhi used by local people for drinking, washing and cooking, scientists said
on Thursday. The NDM 1 gene, which creates what some experts describe as 'super superbugs,' has
spread to germs that cause cholera and dysentery, and is circulating freely in other bacteria in the In-
dian city capital of 14 million people, the researchers said. 'The inhabitants of New Delhi are continu-
ally being exposed to multidrug-resistant and NDM 1-positive bacteria,' said Mark Toleman of Britain's
Cardiff University School of Medicine, who published the findings in a study on Thursday. . . .
It first emerged in India three years ago and has now spread across the world. It has been found in
a wide variety of bugs, including familiar pathogens like Escherichia coli, or E. coli. . . . 'We would ex-
pect that perhaps as many as half a million people are carrying NDM 1-producing bacteria as normal
(gut) flora in New Dehli alone,' Toleman said. Experts say the spread of superbugs threatens whole
swathes of modern medicine, which cannot be practiced if doctors have no effective antibiotics to
ward off infections during surgery, intensive care or cancer treatments like chemotherapy. . . .
'We are at a critical point in time where antibiotic resistance is reaching unprecedented levels,' said
Zsuzsanna Jakab, the WHO's regional director for Europe. 'Given the growth of travel and trade in
Europe and across the world, people should be aware that until all countries tackle this, no country
alone can be safe.'
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—Kate Kelland, “Scientists Find Superbugs in Delhi Drinking Water,” Reuters,
April 7, 2011
Fifty years ago, with the discovery of penicillin and other modern antibiotics, followed by the
successful eradication of smallpox through a vigorous worldwide program of vaccination, it ap-
peared that devastating plagues were a thing of the past. Recently, however, scientists have
sounded ominous warnings that bacteria and viruses appear to be gaining ground on the human
medical technologies that we had once thought would soon conquer all diseases. In this modern
age of emerging antibiotic-resistant superbugs coupled with worldwide jet travel, the specter of
deadly global pandemics has once again raised its ugly head.
This chapter offers practical information about herbs, alternative medicines, and self-treat-
ment devices you may wish to stock in your personal self-healing arsenal. The “Top-Ten List of
