Superbug Gene' On The Move: First Found In Delhi, Has Now Reached The Arctic

A significant find in the global spread of multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria, scientists have found a 'superbug' gene - first detected in New Delhi over a decade back - in one of the last 'pristine' places on Earth, the Arctic, which is some 12,870 km away. The research was carried out by an international team of experts from the Universities of Newcastle, York and Kansas and the Chinese Academy of Science in Xiamen. Soil samples taken in Svalbard - a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole - have now confirmed the spread of blaNDM-1 (New Delhi Metallo-beta-lactamase-1) into the High Arctic.

The enzyme that makes bacteria drug-resistant got 'New Delhi' in its name because it was first detected in a Swedish patient of Indian origin who travelled to India in 2008. All about the NDM-1 drug: 1. This Antibiotic-Resistant Gene (ARG), originally found in Indian…