Huck Treadwell, a columnist for the Times-Journal in DeKalb County, Alabama, was approached by a man who entered the newspaper’s office to ask “if anybody at the Times-Journal knew anything about the end of the world.”
Treadwell and the visitor talked for a few minutes and the columnist was told that according to the Internet rumor mill, 95 percent of the world’s population will be dead by the end of the year due to NDM-1, a horrible virus out of India spread by people traveling there as “medical tourists.”
All of that raises some interesting questions. For example, what is NDM-1, what is “medical tourism,” and, most importantly, why should we care?
Wikipedia had some information on NDM-1, but I trust information from Wikipedia about as much as I trust information from Rick Santorum’s campaign. (Republicans, please, I jest, I jest! – no, wait, I don’t jest. Rick Santorum is a phony in a sweater-vest who spreads fear and despair as political ideology. But I digress.) Thus, I went to Medical News Today.
“NDM-1, which stands for New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1 is a gene (DNA code) carried by some bacteria. If a bacteria strain carries the NDM-1 gene it is resistant to nearly all antibiotics, including carbapenem antibiotics – AKA, antibiotics of last resort.
“Carbepenems are the most powerful antibiotics, used as a last resort for many bacterial infections, such as E. coli and Klebsiella. The NDM-1 gene makes the bacterium produce an enzyme which neutralizes the activity of carbepenem antibiotics.
“A bacterium carrying the NDM-1 gene is the most powerful superbug around.”
Well, gee whiz, that’s pretty scary stuff; resistant to even the most powerful antibiotics. Certainly something to ponder, although, in truth, the world is full of really scary stuff (I mean, a friend posted on my Facebook page the other day that she was glad she knew me because otherwise she’d be afraid to meet me. Hey, I’m just sayin’…)
Okay, on to medical tourism. Simply put, people travel to foreign countries – in this case India – for medical treatments, such as plastic surgery. As Huck Treadwell wrote in his column, “Medical and tourism aren't two words I commonly associate with each other.” Amen, brother.
Medical News Today adds: “Europeans who have undergone hospitalization in the Indian subcontinent have brought NDM-1 back to Europe. A significant number of Europeans who brought the gene back to Europe had undergone cosmetic surgery in India/Pakistan because it is cheaper there.”
The British have been taking precautions against NDM-1, which is widespread in India and Pakistan and, apparently, many Brits and other Europeans travel to India for medical treatments. And, yes, the NDM-1 bacteria can easily transfer. However, while British doctors are concerned about NDM-1, there is no crisis, no panic and no forecast for the infection to be a harbinger of Doomsday.
NDM-1 is clearly an example of the hysteria that True Believers (idiots/morons) whip up to bolster their asinine claims that 2012 will mark the End of the World and it ain’t gonna happen!
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