DON'T PANIC OVER SUPERBUG REPORT, SAYS MINISTER

SANDAKAN (Sabah, Malaysia), Oct 30 (Bernama) -- Malaysians should not unduly
panic following the report that a superbug resistant to antibiotics was detected
in a 24-year-old woman, the first known case in Malaysia, said Health Minister
Liow Tiong Lai.

Liow said the patient was the sole carrier of a superbug and that she had
already recovered after receiving treatment at a hospital.

"We have extracted the bacteria from her body and there was no transmission to
either the health workers or other patients," he told reporters after launching
a health carnival at the Karamunting rural clinic here Saturday.

The superbug, known scientifically as the NDM-1 (New Delhi metallo-
lactamase-1) is according to the United States Centre for Disease Control and
Prevention an enzyme that destroys many commonly used antibiotics, rendering them
ineffective.

Following the detection of the first case, Liow said all hospitals and clinic
had been ordered to strictly follow set guidelines when giving out antibiotics
as the bug is immune to the drugs and will evolve.

Identified in India and Pakistan, it had reportedly caused the death of a Belgian man and infected several people from Britain, Australia and the United States, who had travelled to the two countries for surgery.

The Belgian was reportedly infected by the bacteria after being
hospitalised in Pakistan for a leg injury suffered in a car accident.