The World Health Organisation has called for urgent and concerted action to tackle drug resistance.

“The world is heading towards a post-antibiotic era,” warned Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organisation, who said that without urgent measures “common infections will no longer have a cure and, once again, kill unabated.”

The warning came as the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal published online on Thursday “found gram-negative bacteria with the gene NDM-1 (New Delhi Metallo-Beta lactamase-1) in New Delhi drinking and seepage water. The significance of NDM-1 is that it is immune even to carbapenems, one of the most effective treatments against bacteria.”

Two of the 50 drinking water samples examined carried the strain, which was also present in 51 of the 171 samples of seepage water, collected from pools in the streets and rivulets. The samples were collected in September and October last year. The group used controlled samples from Cardiff Wastewater Treatment works in Wales, UK.

“You couldn't find a better way of spreading antibiotic resistance mechanism than water,” said Dr Mark Toleman, senior research fellow at Cardiff University and one of the authors of the report.

“The problem is that when disease does occur we have nothing to treat the infections of it,” he added. “We would expect increased seriousness of diseases and presumably mortality because of it.”

Dr Toleman was critical of the response of the Government. “We were very happy collaborating with colleagues in India on our first research piece and would like that to have continued for the second, but the Indian Government led a vicious witch hunt against scientists who had collaborated with us. Some were threatened with a loss of livelihood,” he said.

Last August, the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal published a study, which found the gene had been carried back to Britain by several patients who had visited India for medical treatment.

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