Frozen doom? Antibiotic-resistant superbug genes found in the Arctic

In an extremely worrying development, genes relating to one of the most antibiotic resistant superbugs known to mankind have been found in the soil of the high Arctic, a remote and largely inhospitable corner of the world.

The New Delhi Metallo-beta-lactamase-1 genes (blaNDM-1) were first identified when a Swedish patient of Indian origin, who traveled to India in 2008, presented at a Delhi hospital. The genes were then detected in surface water on Delhi streets in 2010.

In a shock development, they have now been unearthed in the soil in Svalbard, Norway, high up in the Arctic Circle, 12,870km away from the Indian city, and how they got there is a profound mystery.

DNA was extracted from 40 soil samples at eight locations in Svalbard and a total of 131 antibiotic resistant genes were found. The New Delhi superbug was present in over 60 percent of the samples analyzed. The impact of antibiotic-resistant bacteria cannot be overstated, regardless of the lack of a coherent, international strategy at present.

[link to www.rt.com (secure)]

I've seen some of those movies, where the newly discovered virus gets out, and they never end well for most of the population.