The Department of Health (DOH) listed the new drug-resistant superbug named NDM-1 from India as a category-four communicable disease on Thursday, meaning that hospitals and clinics must immediately report any suspected cases.
The bug, which is named from an enzyme called New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1 that is found in some strains of bacteria, including E. coli, is widespread on the Indian subcontinent and has reportedly also reached the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands and Japan.
According to medical experts, NDM-1 has the potential to become a global public health issue, as the superbug is extremely virulent and resistant to almost all antibiotics, even the most powerful ones.
Since NDM-1 is not an airborne disease, patients diagnosed with the bug do not need to be quarantined or kept in isolated hospital wards, but doctors must inform the health authorities about the cases, said Chou Jih-haw (周志浩), deputy director-general of the DOH’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Doctors should notify the CDC or its local branches within 24 hours of seeing a patient who has received invasive surgery, has traveled abroad — to India and Pakistan in particular — over the past six months and whose samples show the occurrence of resistance to Carbapenem antibiotics, Chou said.
Doctors who fail to notify the CDC after attending a patient who meets the three conditions could face fines of up to NT$450,000, he added.
Taiwan so far has remained clear of the disease.
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