By Salma Khalik
ANOTHER four people in Singapore have been infected by the new
superbug, the highly drug-resistant New Delhi
metallo-beta-lactamase 1 (NDM-1), bringing the total to six.
Of the latest cases, three were elderly patients aged between 74
and 94 but the fourth was in his 30s. As none of them had travelled
abroad, it is likely that they had caught the bug locally.
The youngest patient may have acquired the superbug while in
hospital as he developed a urinary tract infection after a
two-month stay. The NDM-1 bacteria were not present in earlier
tests done on the patient.
Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan cautioned that more such cases
were likely to emerge, given the ease with which the NDM-1 gene can
spread among bacteria.
The gene makes the bacteria resistant to many of the more common
antibiotics.
Mr Khaw told The Straits Times that the NDM-1 'is already found
in different species and strains of bacteria here'. We can
therefore expect more cases.'