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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

India : ICMR begins research on NDM-1 superbug

Article from India Today, excerpt :

" After flatly denying any existence of NDM-1 superbug and dubbing the British study on it as 'unscientific', the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has finally woken up and decided to initiate research studies on NDM-1 and antibiotic resistance in the country.

The research body has invited scientists to submit their research proposals in this respect. The body has admitted that it is extremely essential to generate scientific evidence on the prevailing trends of antimicrobial resistance in all parts of the country and at all levels of health care, comprising primary, secondary and tertiary systems.

"On individual basis, researchers have been reporting the presence of multidrug resistant organisms and their anti-microbial susceptibility patterns, but there is lack of a consolidated effort to bring about change," ICMR says.

The plan is to carry out studies at the level of genes to find out how genes which make a bug resistant to drugs are transferred among various bugs within the human body. The research will also be carried out to study genes of microbes to know the areas which could be targeted by drugs to kill it. This would also help in development of better diagnostics."

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