Negative resistance

A deadly epidemic that could have global implications is quietly
sweeping India, and among its many victims are thousands of newborns, dying because once-miraculous cures no longer work.

These infants are born with
bacterial infections that are resistant to most known antibiotics. Over 58,000 died last year as a result, a recent study found. Indian paediatricians say that the rising toll of resistant infections could soon swamp efforts to improve India’s abysmal infant death rate.

“Reducing newborn deaths in India is an important public health priority in the world, and this will require treating an

increasing number of neonates who have sepsis and pneumonia,” said Dr Vinod Paul, leader of the study and chief of

paediatrics at All India Institute of Medical Sciences. “But if resistant infections keep growing, that progress could slow, stop or even reverse itself. And that would be a disaster for not only India but the entire world.”

In visits to neonatal intensive care wards in five Indian states, doctors
reported being overwhelmed by such

cases. “Five years ago, we almost never saw these kinds of infections,” said Dr Neelam Kler, chairwoman of the department of neonatology at New Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. “Now, close to 100 percent of the babies referred to us have multi-drug resistant infections. It’s scary.”

A growing chorus of researchers say the evidence is now overwhelming that a significant share of the bacteria present in India are immune to nearly all antibiotics.


NYTNS