Health officials in Hong Kong and mainland China unite to battle deadly superbugs after new threat discovered
Study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases found new superbug in five patients who died of serious pneumonia in Zhejiang
Health officials in Hong Kong and mainland China have joined forces to battle deadly superbugs, after the discovery of a new drug-resistant bacteria in a mainland hospital, the city’s health minister said on Friday.
Secretary for Food and Health Professor Sophia Chan Siu-chee, on a trip to Beijing, said that the global threat of antibiotic-resistant bugs would be taken seriously.
“We have shared our experiences [fighting against superbugs] with the mainland Chinese authorities and they are paying a lot of attention to this public health issue,” Chan said.
Her remarks came after scientists in Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) discovered the spreading of a new superbug in a hospital in Zhejiang.
The study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases on Wednesday, found the new superbug in five patients who died of serious pneumonia in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University in China.
After testing the blood samples of the dead patients, local scientists discovered a highly toxic, transmissible and drug-resistant new bug, and named it “ST11 carbapenem-resistant hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae”.
