NEWLY vaccinated travelers enjoying a return to trips abroad may find a drug-resistant "superbug" hitching a ride in their gut, a study in Genome Medicine says.
US and Dutch researchers studying the effects of travel on the bacteria in our stomachs were unnerved to find that a third of their subjects who traveled to Southeast Asia carried a bacterial gene resistant to "last resort" antibiotics for infections such as pneumonia and meningitis.
"These findings provide strong support that international travel risks spreading antimicrobial resistance globally," said Alaric D'Souza, a researcher studying microbial genomics and ecology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis who co-authored the study published this week.
The team, which studied the feces of 190 Dutch travelers before and after travel to parts of Africa and Asia, found international travelers to be "reservoirs and spreaders" of drug-resistant superbugs.
When the travelers returned home, their fecal test kits revealed a "significant amount" of antimicrobial resistant, or AMR, genes that do not respond to commonly used antibiotics.
The genes of these drug-resistant "superbugs" usually develop naturally over millennia when exposed to antibiotics produced by other bacteria in their environment.
But the overuse of antibiotics by humans for medical and agricultural purposes is accelerating this process.
The study warns this trend threatens 70 years of progress in treating infectious diseases caused by bacteria.
Researchers found the resistant genes were "destination-specific," with certain types localized to specific regions.
They expressed the most concern about travelers in their study who returned from Southeast Asia with the mcr-1 gene, which resists colistin, an antibiotic used when other drug therapies fail.
"It is vital that we address AMR in lower income countries with high resistance rates and low public health funds," D'Souza said.
"This global approach may not only help the respective countries, but it could also benefit others by reducing the international spread of resistance genes."
The authors concluded that understanding how these genes spread can help international public health interventions, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
ETX Studio
Sun Jun 13 2021
Researchers found some international travelers to be "reservoirs and spreaders" of drug-resistant superbugs. ETXStudiopic
Pelan pengurusan bencana jika berlaku kejadian luar jangka
Naib Konsul Haji Malaysia & Pengarah Operasi Madinah, Ashrof Shamsuddin beri jaminan, jemaah haji Malaysia musim kali ini tidak perlu risau dengan kemungkinan berlaku bencana luar jangka sama ada di Madinah atau Mekah kerana kerajaan mempunyai pelan pengurusan bencana yang akan dilaksanakan jika berlaku sebarang kejadian tidak diingini.
Sentimen pengundi fasa akhir kempen
Wartawan Firdaus Azil melakukan tinjauan sekitar Kuala Kubu Baharu dalam fasa akhir pilihan raya kecil.
Pamer gambar Agong: Biar polis siasat - Amirudin
Polis menahan dua lelaki dan merampas sebuah kenderaan pacuan empat roda kerana mempamerkan gambar Yang di-Pertuan Agong pada kempen PRK KKB, semalam.
PM sentiasa utamakan agenda Pemerkasaan Masyarakat India - Ramanan
Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim sentiasa mengutamakan agenda "Pemerkasaan Masyarakat India" seiring dengan proses pembangunan negara.
Hannah Yeoh mahu PDRM ambil tindakan terhadap pelaku
Menteri Belia dan Sukan, Hannah Yeoh mengutuk insiden yang berlaku kepada Faisal Halim. Menurutnya, beliau mengecam sekeras-kerasnya keganasan terhadap atlet.
[TERKINI] Faisal Halim dalam keadaan stabil
Ketua Polis Selangor, Datuk Hussein Omar Khan, berkata Faisal dilaporkan berada dalam keadaan stabil dengan menerima rawatan di sebuah hospital di Petaling Jaya.
Malas, lembap, bermasalah bakal tidak naik gaji automatik
Kerajaan bakal memperkenalkan kaedah yang melihat kepada prestasi kerja serta kecekapan penjawat awam bagi menentukan sama ada berhak menerima kenaikan gaji.
Faisal Halim cedera disimbah cecair dipercayai asid
Berdasarkan gambar yang dikongsi kepada Astro AWANI, terdapat kecederaan dilihat di bahagian muka, kepala dan bahagian belakang pemain tersebut.
Program Madani Rakyat Zon Utara: Lebih 3,700 resume diterima pada Karnival Kerjaya
Karnival Kerjaya sempena Program Madani Rakyat 2024 Zon Utara menerima sambutan menggalakkan sepanjang tiga hari ia berlangsung sejak Jumaat.
AWANI Borneo [05/05/2024] – Status Sarawak | Menjelang PRN | Penduduk Kampung Gas
AWANI Borneo Ahad, 5 Mei 2025 bersama Nickyson Nyambar.
> Jawatankuasa tentukan terminologi Sarawak berasaskan perlembagaan.
> Tambah keahlian Bersatu Sabah, perkukuh barisan hadapan.
> Penduduk Kampung Gas bakal dipindahkan ke PPRT tahun ini.
> Jawatankuasa tentukan terminologi Sarawak berasaskan perlembagaan.
> Tambah keahlian Bersatu Sabah, perkukuh barisan hadapan.
> Penduduk Kampung Gas bakal dipindahkan ke PPRT tahun ini.