VietNamNet Bridge - Not surprised by the US’s first case of superbug resistant to antibiotics, Dr Nguyen Tien Quyet affirmed that the Vietnam-Germany Friendship Hospital in Vietnam was able to treat some patients resistant to all antibiotics.

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The US scientists warned that the superbug could spread, creating a pandemic.

Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in The New York Times: “We risk being in a post-antibiotic world”.

“The medicine cabinet is empty for some patients,” he added, calling for scientists to research and develop new antibiotics which can protect current and future generations.

Dr. Nguyen Tien Quyet, a renowned expert, said the information about antibiotic-resistant bacteria was not a surprise to him all, because he had met such patients in the past.

He said when physicians conducted antibiogram tests for patients, they discovered that the patients were resistant to all the drugs tried. 

As Vietnamese scientists have succeeded with tuberculosis bacteria, they can apply the same research method to create similar test kits for other bacteria.
Therefore, the physicians then decided to prescribe many different antibiotics for use at the same time in a remedy called ‘antibiotic resonance’. The methods saved the patients. 

Also according to Quyet, other healthcare establishments also discovered similar cases, but they did not make them public.

Nguyen Thai Son from the Military Medical Academy confirmed that similar cases were once seen at some hospitals, including Military Hospital No 103, Military Hospital No 108 and Bach Mai Hospital. 

The patients were found resistant to all drugs available at the hospitals. However, Son said no one came forward to learn if antibiotics taken by the patients were all the antibiotics available in Vietnam. 

Therefore, no one can say for sure that the patients were ‘resistant to all antibiotics’ like the patient in the US, a woman from Pennsylvania, 49.

“The US has made quick reaction in the case. Meanwhile, Vietnam still doesn’t have thorough research on the issue,” Son said.

The expert, who was a member of the team which conducted research on the process of making multiplex PCR that helps diagnose tuberculosis and drug-resistant tuberculosis bacteria, went on to say that it is within Vietnam’s reach to conduct research and develop a quick test kit which allows antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

As Vietnamese scientists have succeeded with tuberculosis bacteria, they can apply the same research method to create similar test kits for other bacteria.

Son revealed that the Military Medical Academy has proposed to the Ministry of Science and Technology to research and develop test kits that discover drug-resistant superbugs. This is a part of the KC.10 Program to be implemented in 2016-2020.


KH & PT