Deadly, Antibiotic-Resistant NDM-1 Enzyme Found in Germany, Bild Reports

An enzyme which makes bacteria resistant to “almost all antibiotics” has reached Germany, Bild said, citing information from the Robert Koch Institute, the federal institution responsible for disease control and prevention.

There have been “individual, isolated proofs of bacteria that produce” the gene, New Delhi-metallo-beta-lactamose (NDM- 1), the newspaper said, quoting the Institute.

The news follows the first death in continental Europe caused by NDM-1, Bild said. A man died in Brussels having fallen ill after returning from Pakistan, the newspaper reported, citing Denis Pierard, a microbiologist from University Hospital Brussels. Most appearances of the enzyme have so far occurred in India and Pakistan, the newspaper said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Webb in Frankfurt at awebb21@bloomberg.net

• Tweet
• More
  • Business Exchange
  • Buzz up!
  • Digg
• Print
• Email