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Fear of organism that resists drugs
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Copyright ) 1997 Nando.net
Copyright ) 1997 Reuters
LONDON (December 5, 1997 12:17 p.m. EST http://www.nando.net) - Medical
experts called Friday for special precautions after Japanese doctors
identified new strains of a superbug with some resistance to the most
potent antibiotic.
Dr. Keiichi Hiramatsu and colleagues at Jutendo University in Tokyo
found a strain of the common infection staphylococcus aureus earlier
this year -- known by its initials as VRSA -- that did not respond to
vancomycin, the last line of defense against infection.
In their latest research, reported in The Lancet medical journal, they
uncovered more strains of the organism that showed variable resistance
to the drug.
"This is a very big warning," Dr. Soad Tabaqchali, a microbiologist at
St. Bartholomew's & Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, told
Reuters.
"If this organism spreads, we may find some patients for whom the only
antibiotics available are ineffective."
Strains of the so-called MRSA bacteria that are resistant to the
antibiotic methicillin have been found around the world since the late
1970s, but doctors have always had another weapon -- vancomycin.
The discovery of the new strains of VRSA means the new superbug might
eventually be untreatable.
Hiramatsu and his team said there is "a need for special precaution to
limit the spread of VRSA strains," a plea repeated by Tabaqchali.
"More has to be done regarding detection, infection control and
antibiotic policies," she said. "We need to reduce usage of these very
important antibiotics."
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