Overuse of antibiotics and poor sanitation in India have created a powerful new antibiotic-resistant superbug, which has spread to a dozen countries, thanks in part to medical tourism.
Sonia Shah on Super-Resistant Bacteria, Medical Tourism and India's Poor
Published February 10, 2012
Reporter and Pulitzer Center grantee Sonia Shah recently traveled to New Delhi, India where inappropriate and widespread use of antibiotics have given rise to a new strain of bacteria that is resistant to even the most powerful drugs. These bacterial infections—endowed with the superbug “NDM-1” gene—have so far spread to 12 countries on three continents, in part due to India's growing medical tourism industry. The spread of these infections poses not only scientific challenges but also political and economic ones, as market incentives to promote the development of new antibiotics are lacking.
An antibiotic-resistant bacteria emerging in New Delhi (NDM-1) is spreading fast, thanks to poor sanitation and medical tourism. It poses the risk of unstoppable infections.
The wide availability of antibiotics--and their misuse--has allowed the super-resistant NDM-1 gene to spread across India and to at least 35 other countries through India’s growing medical tourism...
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Sonia Shah writes about international politics and global health. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Le Monde Diplomatique, Foreign Affairs, The Lancet and...