1、据美国媒体 9 月 13 日报道，美方近日在国内三个州发现感染了新型 “超级病菌”的患者，其体内变异了的“超级病菌 ”几乎对所有抗生素都“刀枪不入”。美国疾病防控中心的科学家介绍，患者们分别来自加利福尼亚州、马萨诸塞州和伊利诺伊州。除美国本土外，加拿大也发现了两例“超级病菌”感染者。所有感染者都因为各种原因而在近期入住过印度的医院，在那里接受过治疗。科学家表示，“超级病菌”实际上是一种抗药基因，学名为 “新德里金属蛋白酶-1”（简称NDM-1）。NDM-1 基因具有强大的抗药性，能够分解绝大多数的抗生素。由于该基因还可能潜入其它种类的病菌并互相传递蔓延，因此被称为“超级病菌” 。“超级病菌”
2、是去年被英国卡迪夫大学的学者蒂莫西发现、确认的，他在一名曾于印度住院治疗的瑞典病人身上的大肠杆菌和肺炎杆菌中找到了这种基因。日前在治疗美国的几位患者时，医生发现一般的抗生素根本无法杀死他们体内的病菌，包括那些“ 医生在最后时刻不得已才会开出的具有强大功效的抗生素” 也对这些人体内的病菌束手无策。最终，医生发现原来他们体内的病菌都被“超级病菌” 所“感染”了，才会变得如此强大。美国疾病防控中心的医学家林赛格雷森称，病菌的抗药能力一直在增强，而人类在发现更强抗生素方面的研究却一直没有取得突破性进展，“ 超级病菌” 大范围传播只是时间问题。对于愈演愈烈的“超级病菌”危机，医学界目前还没有研究出根本性
3、的治疗方法，只能提醒民众勤洗手、勤搞卫生，同时也提醒医生和患者正确使用抗生素类药物根据病情需要给出合适剂量和种类的抗生素，不要滥用。New drug-resistant superbugs found in 3 statesAn infectious-disease nightmare is unfolding: Bacteria that have been made resistant to nearly all antibiotics by an alarming new gene have sickened people in three states and are popping
4、up all over the world, health officials reported Monday.The U.S. cases and two others in Canada all involve people who had recently received medical care in India, where the problem is widespread. A British medical journal revealed the risk last month in an article describing dozens of cases in Brit
5、ain in people who had gone to India for medical procedures.How many deaths the gene may have caused is unknown; there is no central tracking of such cases. So far, the gene has mostly been found in bacteria that cause gut or urinary infections.Scientists have long feared this - a very adaptable gene
6、 that hitches onto many types of common germs and confers broad drug resistance, creating dangerous “superbugs.“Its a great concern,“ because drug resistance has been rising and few new antibiotics are in development, said Dr. M. Lindsay Grayson, director of infectious diseases at the University of
7、Melbourne in Australia. “Its just a matter of time“ until the gene spreads more widely person-to-person, he said.Grayson heads an American Society for Microbiology conference in Boston, which was buzzing with reports of the gene, called NDM-1 and named for New Delhi.The U.S. cases occurred this year
8、 in people from California, Massachusetts and Illinois, said Brandi Limbago, a lab chief at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Three types of bacteria were involved, and three different mechanisms let the gene become part of them.“We want physicians to look for it,“ especially in patien
9、ts who have traveled recently to India or Pakistan, she said.What can people do?Dont add to the drug resistance problem, experts say. Dont pressure your doctors for antibiotics if they say they arent needed, use the ones you are given properly, and try to avoid infections by washing your hands.The g
10、ene is carried by bacteria that can spread hand-to-mouth, which makes good hygiene very important.Its also why health officials are so concerned about where the threat is coming from, said Dr. Patrice Nordmann, a microbiology professor at South-Paris Medical School. India is an overpopulated country
11、 that overuses antibiotics and has widespread diarrheal disease and many people without clean water.“The ingredients are there“ for widespread transmission, he said. “Its going to spread by plane all over the world.“The U.S. patients were not related. The California woman needed hospital care after
12、being in a car accident in India. The Illinois man had pre-existing medical problems and a urinary catheter, and is thought to have contracted an infection with the gene while traveling in India. The case from Massachusetts involved a woman from India who had surgery and chemotherapy for cancer ther
13、e and then traveled to the U.S.Lab tests showed their germs were not killed by the types of drugs normally used to treat drug-resistant infections, including “the last-resort class of antibiotics that physicians go to,“ Limbago said.She did not know how the three patients were treated, but all survi
14、ved.Doctors have tried treating some of these cases with combinations of antibiotics, hoping that will be more effective than individual ones are. Some have resorted to using polymyxins - antibiotics used in the 1950s and 60s that were unpopular because they can harm the kidneys.The two Canadian cas
15、es were treated with a combination of antibiotics, said Dr. Johann Pitout of the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. One case was in Alberta, the other in British Columbia.Both patients had medical emergencies while traveling in India. They developed urinary infections that were discovered to
16、have the resistance gene once they returned home to Canada, Pitout said.The CDC advises any hospitals that find such cases to put the patient in medical isolation, check the patients close contacts for possible infection, and look for more infections in the hospital.Any case “should raise an alarm,“ Limbago said.
