A superbug which is resistant to antibiotics has been detected in a 24-year-old woman, the first known case in Malaysia

Superbug detected in woman
By CHRISTINA TAN
chris@thestar.com.my

GUA MUSANG: A superbug which is resistant to antibiotics has been detected in a 24-year-old woman, the first known case in Malaysia, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.

She has since recovered after receiving treatment at Ampang Hospital in Selangor for the past one month.

“Fortunately, she is only a carrier and we were able to extract the bacteria from her body,” Liow told reporters yesterday outside the nomination centre in Galas when he and other party leaders were accompanying the Barisan Nasional candidate Abdul Aziz Yusof to file his nomination papers.

“We are monitoring the patient closely to ensure the superbug is not transmitted to health workers and other patients,” he said.

Liow said the superbug, known scientifically as the NDM-1 (New Delhi metallo-lactamase-1), was not a threat to the patient and she was receiving regular attention at the hospital.

Asked how the patient contracted the bug, he said: “It can be anywhere, and can evolve in the body.”

The patient had not travelled overseas, he added.

He said the Institute for Medical Research notified the ministry on the detection of the superbug.

Liow reminded all health workers and doctors to abide by the guidelines and standard operating procedure in handling all patients to ensure the superbug did not spread in the country.

Hospitals or clinics are required to immediately report any suspected cases.

“Don’t simply give antibiotics as the bug is immune to the drugs and will evolve,” warned Liow.

He added that the superbug was only transmitted through direct contact like touching and through wounds, not through the air.

Identified in India and Pakistan, it had reportedly caused the death of a Belgian man and infected several people from Britain, Australia and the United States who travelled to the two countries for surgery.

The Belgian was reportedly infected by the bacteria after being hospitalised in Pakistan for a leg injury suffered in a car accident.

According to the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, NDM-1 is an enzyme that destroys many commonly used antibiotics, rendering them ineffective.

On another development, Liow said Malaysia needed 500 doctors to treat senior citizens for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

He said the country had only 13 such doctors. The Government was hiring foreign doctors to meet the shortage, while training more doctors in this field, he said, adding that the ministry was targeting to have 50 doctors in five years.

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