Drug-Resistant Patients at Risk 2 to 3 Times Higher, Study Finds | Mumbai News

MUMBAI: A drug-resistant bacterium could double the risk of death in patients by two to three, according to a unique study conducted in the country to measure the burden of antibiotic resistance.

Antibiotic resistance occurs when the bacteria that causes infections in people are not affected by the drugs, leading to the death of "super bugs". India is the largest consumer of antibiotics and has been criticized for the emergence of a number of drug-resistant organisms, such as NDM-1 (New Delhi Metallo-beta-lactamase-1).

The study, published Saturday in the medical journal & # 39; Clinical Infectious Diseases & # 39 ;, used diagnostic tests performed on 4,437 patients admitted to 10 hospitals – including two in Mumbai – from the Fortis group between January 2015 and December 2015. The author, Sumanth Gandra, of the Washington-based Center for Diseases, Economics and Politics, told TOI: "This is the largest Indian data on microbial resistance and its effects on mortality. We found that the higher the resistance, the higher the probability of death. "

About 13% of patients succumbed to complications resulting from infections that reacted to drugs or resisted them. "However, the risk of death is about two-fold higher in a patient with a multidrug-resistant bacterial infection and three-fold higher in a patient with a drug-resistant bacterial infection compared to carrier patients." of a bacterial infection sensitive to the drug, "added Dr. Gandra.