Canadian who's never been to India has superbug

Via Times of India :

" NDM-1, the enzyme associated with extensive antibiotic resistance that was found in India last year, has jumped to new bacteria strains and infected a Canadian, who had no travel history to India.

For the first time, scientists in Canada have reported local acquisition of an organism producing NDM-1 in Ontario, Canada. NDM-1 has been found in bacterial species other than E coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae.

The findings are in tune with a TOI report a few weeks ago that had pointed out about NDM-1 gene, which has been jumping between various species of bacteria at a "superfast speed."

British scientists from the Cardiff University, who first reported on the existence of NDM-1, told TOI that when it was first detected in 2006, the bacteria were found only in E Coli.

"We have found NDM-1 gene in more than 20 different species of bacteria. NDM-1 can move at unprecedented speed, making more and more species of bacteria drug resistant," said Dr Mark Toleman told TOI.

Dr Susan Poutanen from Mount Sinai Hospital and University Health Network says in the latest study, "These scenarios show that local acquisition of an organism producing NDM-1 has already occurred in Ontario, Canada, that it has been found in bacterial species other than E Coli and K pneumoniae, that treatment options are limited for infections with NDM-1-producing organisms and that the detection of NDM-1-producing organisms by a laboratory can be difficult."