German Lang. Media: Indian Superbug in Europe; Armstrong talks
The gene variant has been named after the city, where it might have originated: Neu-Delhi-Metallo-Beta-Lactamase-1, NDM-1, makes bacteria resistant against all currently known antibiotics. NDM-1-bacteria have been originally found in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, but already reached Europe, too. In Belgian, a man died, who came back with an injury from a visit in his home country Pakistan (according to the Belgian newspaper “Le Soir”), probably the first NDM-1-caused death in Europe. The German Robert-Koch-Institute said, that a few cases have been registered in Germany, too (that’s the information from dpa, the website of the Robert-Koch-Institute is more specific: 4 cases), although not fatal due to the existence and relative effectiveness of antibiotics like Tigecycline and Colistine (which failed in the Belgian case). The journal Lancet reports about an international study, which found 37 patients in the UK and 140 in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan infected with NDM-1-positive bacteria.
Die Zeit took the chronological path, starting with Fleming’s discovery of Penicillin, the early, euphoric days of antibiotics, and the first waves of resistant bacteria. Then the article explains the recent events, mentioning the NDM-1-gene – and that bacteria with the gene have been found not only in Belgium, but in the UK, the US and Germany, too.
But the whole article does not mention, what kind of bacteria carry the dangerous NDM-1 gene so far (or what kind of diseases or symptoms the bacteria cause). Which is true for basically all articles published in the German language media (Stern, Süddeutsche, e.g.) – perhaps because they are more or less based on a piece distributed via dpa, the German press agency, which did not provide such an information. Nevertheless, the Robert-Koch-Institute knows it (as almost always in such cases) and explains it on its website (also here): So called Gram-negative bacteria, especially “Klebsiella pneumonia and other Enterobacteria”. (Bild, by the way, mentioned at least, “E.coli, e.g.”. )
What I also missed, was an explanation of any kind, how the NDM-1-gene actually works. I found this on, again, the RKI website: The gene codes for a Beta-Lactamase, an enzyme, which destroys antibiotics based on a Beta-Lactam-group – which is a long known weak point of these antibiotics and cause for bacterial resistance. Whereas other resistant bacteria were still sensitive for carbapenem, which is used as a reserve drug, when other antibiotics don’t work. The new gene NDM-1 makes an enzyme, which is able to destroy even carbapenem.
Of course, these are just “molecular details”. But they make clear, that we face a well known and neglected problem and not a sudden, unpredictable catastrophe. These are not “Superbacteria” (most of the headlines used this term), they are just a little bit more effective than all the other resistant bugs, who are already able to destroy Beta-Lactam-drugs. Nevertheless, this antibiotic resistance is a serious problem. But (science) journalists should mention the scientific background, to be able to hint the public (scientists, politicians, etc), that society and pharmaceutical industry needs to take more efforts to develop new antibiotics. Die Welt provided exactly this information: “Superbug displays pharma industry’s failure“. The article names the real problem behind the spectacular death in Belgium: The companies have no monetary incentives to spend (a lot of) money on a difficult search for new antibiotics, if the reimbursement for such a new antibiotic is small, because doctors are going to use it only for the rare patients with multiresistant bacterial infections.
More ink: Berliner Kurier, Standard, Wiener Zeitung, Tagesspiegel
A detail, worth noticing:
Everyone knows Neil Armstrong, of course. But what else do we know about him, the first man on the moon? Not much, and this is because Armstrong almost never spoke to the press after the space capsule of Apollo 11 landed back on earth. Generations of journalists tried to interview him and all got the famous standard letter: “Mr. Armstrong does not speak with journalists.” Never stop trying – that’s the lesson to learn from the editorial board of “Servus TV”, a (very) small Austrian TV station, which is owned by the founder of a successful soft drink company, Dietrich Mateschitz. Like thousands of other journalists before, the Servus TV editor sent his request, but he was clever enough to include the bait, that the interview would take place at the Technology Museum of the Salzburg airport, which has an impressing collection of historical airplanes – all owned by Dietrich Mateschitz. Armstrong came, saw (the planes), and spoke. (With Frank Schirrmacher, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, see youtube).
All the journalists, who tried but were not as lucky as Servus TV, might take some comfort from this article at Süddeutsche Zeitung – about the biological role of consolation.
Sascha Karberg
