Global Health Threat: Antibiotic-Resistant "Superbug" Spreading in Malaysia(scitechdaily.com)

58 pointsby Brajeshwar10 days ago3 comments

KennyBlanken10 days ago
The research in question: https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/mgen/10...
They were doing genetic sequencing across a decade or so at this one hospital to document how the bacteria is evolving to develop resistance - and it currently has resistance to a wide number of drugs.
Sounds like it is highly prevalent in hospitals in lesser developed countries and has been slowly developing resistance but not widely studied, and this particular strain at this particular hospital seems to be further along the path.
WHO considers it a "critical priority antibiotic-resistant pathogen."
Most hits on the subject in the news seem to be coming from tabloid-level organizations. This looked fairly sane: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-deadly-antibiotic-res...
A reminder to HNers, from another HNer:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10812804
msandford10 days ago
They can write a whole article about how bad it is, but they can't even say what the pathology is?
Does this cause colds or Ebola? I know Ebola is viral. I'm talking about symptoms
- Centigonal10 days ago
  It's an opportunistic pathogen that mainly spreads in hospitals among people who are immunocompromised or otherwise ill. Symptoms vary wildly, because it can infect different organs and tissues, and can include pneumonia and meningitis.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acinetobacter_baumannii
  - Ringz10 days ago
    Wouldn't these restrictions prevent a global pandemic and thus refute the headline?
    candiddevmike10 days ago
    No one mentioned pandemic. It's a health threat--if this thing gets into a hospital its very, very hard to get rid of. Most people prefer their hospitals as sterile as possible.
    ashoeafoot10 days ago
    Its also something that can become a damocles swoard. Like its living in your intestines harmlessly, but if you have a ulcer or somebody in your house gets with a cut near your toilet - exitus.
    Ringz9 days ago
    I have wrongly assumed that a global health threat is equivalent to a pandemic.
    ignoramous10 days ago
    > prefer their hospitals as sterile
    Ah well, except for the sinks, which are breeding ground for superbugs: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10469867/
    In a hospital setting, superbug x-contamination is often fatal: https://apnews.com/article/mexico-contaminated-hospital-supp...
    ceejayoz10 days ago
    A global health threat doesn't have to be a pandemic affecting otherwise healthy people to be a global health threat. In this case, the threat would presumably be that the same bacteria winds up in health care facilities elsewhere.
- KennyBlanken10 days ago
  The "whole article" includes:
  "A. baumannii can cause infections in blood, lungs, urinary tracts, and wounds. It typically causes these in healthcare settings, such as hospitals. Owing to its ability to resist antibiotic treatment, it has been listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a critical priority antibiotic-resistant pathogen."
- m00x10 days ago
  It's a bacteria, so it causes an infection.
  Your body should be able to get rid of it by itself, but if it can't, the infection will grow and be fatal.
  It's not just in Malaysia, but typically these cases are rare so it being widespread is worrisome. We have MRSA in North-America, but hospital processes eliminate most of the spread of bacteria through thorough cleaning.
  It's not much to worry about if you're in a first-world country, but this may cause a lot of deaths in these countries, and force them to spend more on cleaning procedures.
  - Teever10 days ago
    > but hospital processes eliminate most of the spread of bacteria through thorough cleaning.
    Not really. I worked at a hospital over a decade ago and I during an onboarding training session we were told that 1/8 patients will receive an infection as a result of their hospital stay.
kylehotchkiss10 days ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acinetobacter_baumannii#Antibi... 3 pathways to antibiotic resistance... nice. These are clever bacterium.
TIL "Efflux pumps are protein machines that use energy to pump antibiotics and other small molecules that get into the bacterial cytoplasm and the periplasmic space out of the cell." They even have their own bilge pumps!