Health Ministry refutes CDC claims of Taiwan national getting superbug from India

New Delhi, Oct 12 (ANI): The Union Health Ministry has rejected the claims of Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in Taipei that one of the two Taiwan nationals, who was injured in the Jama Masjid shootout incident that occurred here on September 19, was infected with the NDM-1 (New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase) superbug bacteria in India.

The Health Ministry has refuted all claims by the CDC, saying the patient had not received any carbapenem antibiotic during his stay in India.

"The case does not meet the clinical characteristics of NDM-1 enterobacteriaceae infection," according to the CDC, who had informed the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) about the development.

An English daily quoted NCDC sources as saying that since the patient's stool sample was not tested before he was admitted to the hospital, no one could be sure that he was not carrying the organism in his intestines.

Two persons riding a motorbike shot at the two Taiwanese who were traveling in a tourist bus. Police and witnesses said eight to ten rounds of fire were directed at the bus before the attackers escaped.

One of victims was injured in his skull and the other in his abdomen.

38-year-old Taiwanese national Ko Chiang was operated on for hepatic and bowel injuries at Lok Nayak Hospital. He was discharged on September 27.

"As per Lok Nayak Hospital's antibiotic policy, the antibiotic to which Ko Chiang is claimed to be resistant has not been used on him. The resistant organism has been grown from his rectal swab, whereas the specimen taken from the surgical site were all found to be sterile," said Lok Nayak Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Amit Benerjee.

"Taipei has "modified" its opinion. They have now agreed that the organism might have entered his body in some other country and certainly not acquired from India," he added.

Ko Chiang was scanned for the controversial NDM-1 enterobacteriaceae at the CDC in Taipei on his return to Taiwan, where the NDM-1 Klebseilla pneumoniae bacteria was detected in his stool.

NDM-1 (New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase) is an antibiotic-resistant superbug. (ANI)