SMU Medical Journal

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The emergence of superbugs intermittently has always been a global threat for control and treatment of infectious disease caused by them over many decades which influence human population with their mutated genetic make-up and mechanics of resistance. However, bacteria have been developing resistance to antibiotics since they were introduced in 1930s. From the year 1961 till date, among some of the more common superbugs are methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB and XDR-TB). The latest superbug encodes the gene for New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase (NDM-1) is an enzyme that can hydrolyze and inactivate carbapenems, which are used as a last resort for the treatment of multi-resistant bacterial infection. Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae commonly expresses the gene for NDM-1 moreover NDM-2 in Acinetobacter baumannii, NDM-4, NDM-5, NDM- 6, NDM-7 and NDM-8 from E.coli and other Enterobacteriaceae also have been reported. Research is on to develop new classes of antibiotic to handle these threats and it is worrying as there are very limited therapeutics available in the development pipeline that works effectively in the current situation.
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