While the health ministry called a meeting of various municipal bodies in New Delhi to discuss the presence of the superbug in the capital’s water supply, the war of words between Lancet journal and Indian health authorities has intensified.
The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) claimed they had written to the editor of Lancet Infectious Diseases journal expressing strong disagreement with the bacteria being named New Delhi metallo-ß-lactamase 1.
The editor of Lancet, which had first reported on the presence of the new bug wrote back to NCDC claiming they could not use the piece.
Subsequently, the editor, Dr Richard Horton, admitted that naming a bacteria after a city was an error of judgment.
Determined to play it safe, representatives of the NCDC, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, New Delhi Municipal Council and Delhi Jal Board deliberated on Tuesday on whether there was any increase in water or vector-borne diseases in the city.
Following the meeting, NDMC medical officer of health P.K. Sharma said, “Surveillance and monitoring system must be improved and emphasis must be given on proper chlorination of water.
The Delhi Jal Board said it would further improve chlorination and increase frequency of testing water qualities across the city.”
The National Centre for Disease Control will also initiate a six-month long study in the capital’s three hospitals, Safdarjung, Ram Manohar Lohia and Lady Harding, to gauge the presence of this superbug in both Delhi’s ICUs and in its environment.
Western scientists had alleged that NDM-1 was present in Delhi’s water supply and its gene had spread to the bacteria that cause cholera and dysentery.
These allegations were strongly denied at the meeting on Tuesday.