Beware! This deadly bacteria is thriving in Hyderabad lakes

 

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

There is a deadly bacteria growing in Hyderabad’s lakes and other water bodies.

 

Nilesh Vijaykumar | Hyderabad: There is a deadly bacteria growing in Hyderabad’s lakes and other water bodies. It contains the NDM-1 (New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1) gene which provides resistance to the most effective class of antibiotics, known as Carbapenems.

Carbapenems are the “last resort” antibiotics used in tough-to-treat infections caused by multi-drug resistant bacteria. 

Prof Thatikonda Shashidhar of the Department of Civil Engineering at IIT-Hyderabad, along with research scholar Rajeev Ranjan, collected water samples from a set of water bodies in and around Hyderabad and tested them for the presence of bacteria containing the NDM-1 gene.

They collected samples from the Manjeera dam, Singur dam, Manjeera water treatment plant, an outlet of the Amberpet Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) and 13 lakes — Durgam Cheruvu, Ameenpur, Osman Sagar, Alwal, Hussainsagar, Mominpet, Saroornagar, Fox Sagar, Himayatsagar, Kandi, Mir Alam, Nagole and Safilguda.

While the concentration varied, the presence of bacteria with the gene was detected in all samples. 

Speaking to Express, Prof Shashidhar said regardless of the variation in concentration, it is a serious matter of concern that bacteria with the NDM-1 gene has been detected in all samples.

Even coming in contact with the contaminated water from such water bodies is enough to put one in grave danger as the bacteria with the NDM-1 gene can cause infections in humans which might be hard or even impossible to treat. It can also cause loss of life. 

Such bacteria can transmit the NDM-1 gene to other bacteria in a human being — known as horizontal gene transfer — giving it similar resistance against carbapenems.

The research paper on the findings of this study goes on to point out that a “significant” population might have already been exposed to the NDM-1 gene carrying bacteria — the exposure can be anywhere between two out of 100 people to 77 out of 100, depending on the water body. 

The paper, ‘Risk-Assessment Method to Forecast Health Hazards Correlated with Distribution of NDM-1 Gene in Water Bodies Surrounding Hyderabad, India’, was published in the Journal of Environmental Engineering.

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This is my report which had appeared in The New Indian Express. You can find it here: https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/telangana/2021/mar/16/beware-this-deadly-bacteria-is-thriving-in-hyderabad-lakes-2277163.html

Pharmaceutical Pollution Turns Hyderabad Lake Into Spawning Ground For Antimicrobial Resistant Bacteria

 

Photo by Roberto Sorin on Unsplash

 

The bacteria present in the contaminated environment have developed lots of mechanisms to survive antibiotics

  

Nilesh Vijaykumar | Hyderabad: The Kazipally lake is becoming a spawning ground for “superbugs” — bacteria that are resistant to a wide range of antibiotics — due to inflow of effluents in the lake from pharmaceutical plants.

In a recently published study, researchers from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, stated that the lake has more than 80 antibiotic-resistant gene types among its bacteria.

When contacted, Prof. Joakim Larsson, one of the researchers, said, “Such polluted lakes can serve as recruitment grounds for antibiotic resistance genes, which might ultimately end up in disease causing human pathogens. The bacteria present in the contaminated environment have developed lots of mechanisms to survive antibiotics. If they come in contact with some dangerous disease-causing human pathogen, they could transfer genetic material between each other. The resulting drug resistant pathogen will be very difficult to treat.”

Radha Rangarajan, CEO of Vitas Pharma, a drug discovery company based in Hyderabad, said, “The WHO cites antibacterial resistance as the third biggest threat to human health. Multidrug-resistant infections are on the rise across the world.”

A major percentage of the bacteria in Kazipally have developed resistance to fluoroquinolones, a broad spectrum of antibiotics used to treat severe respiratory and urinary tract infections.

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This is my report which had appeared in Deccan Chronicle. You can find it here:
https://www.deccanchronicle.com/150325/nation-current-affairs/article/pharma-wastes-make-drug-resistant-germs