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| Superbugs refer to antibiotic-resistant bacteria. / gettyimagesbank |
US infectious diseases expert warns of deadly bacteria
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Matt McCarthy's 2019 book "Superbugs: The Race to Stop an Epidemic" was translated into Korean and published recently by local publishing house Next Wave Media.
The work by the American physician and infectious diseases expert couldn't be timelier, as the nation has been grappling with the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
Koreans are panicked as the spread of the killer virus shows no signs of abating. As of Friday afternoon, more than 2,000 in Korea had been infected with the virus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, and 13 had died.
With no vaccine existing to tackle the virus, fears are growing.
McCarthy says his book is about antibiotic-resistant bacteria called "superbugs," not viruses. "Some antibiotics can also kill parasites and fungi, but they are rarely effective against viruses," his book reads. "That's why your doctor is stingy about doling out antibiotics when you have a cold, as its symptoms are usually caused by a virus."
Such differences, however, don't mean that "Superbugs" is irrelevant to the current situation in Korea. The book warns of lethal, infectious diseases that few people are aware of, and that render victims defenseless.
Parallels between "Superbugs" and the grim reality across the peninsula in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak go beyond the shared unpreparedness in tackling bacteria and virus-related diseases.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned of a potential, drastic decimation of the global population. If nations fail to take adequate measures to fight superbugs, WHO said 10 million deaths worldwide would be inevitable by 2050.
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| Health workers walk toward a hospital in Daegu on Friday to treat patients. / Yonhap |
Conspiracy theory
Epidemics, such as the coronavirus, have arguably emerged as one of the key, current challenges for humankind.
Since its first outbreak in China in December last year, the coronavirus has killed thousands in China, and this number is increasing. The killer virus has since spread to other parts of Asia including South Korea, Japan and Iran. North America, Europe and Africa have also been affected.
With the number of patients continuing to grow ― particularly in South Korea, Italy and Iran, some experts warn that the coronavirus could develop into a global pandemic.
Chapter 24 of "Superbugs," which tells the story of Americans terrified by the anthrax attacks which killed five in 2001, implies another bizarre parallel between public sentiment at that time, and globally, now.
Mishandling of bacteria, or the possible escape of killer germs, are a key issue.
Bruce Ivins (1946-2008), a former U.S. microbiologist and vaccinologist who had worked at the U.S. Army Medicinal Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Maryland, was a suspected perpetrator of the anthrax attacks. He died of an overdose of Tylenol in an apparent suicide as the investigation into the anthrax killings increasingly pinned him as the main suspect.
Just as the anthrax case ― and the risk of killer germ attacks ― terrified those living in the US, the coronavirus spread has instigated a similar panic.
Conspiracy theories have mushroomed on the internet.
One such conspiracy theory holds unspecified Chinese authorities accountable for the alleged leak of the virus, claiming that it is a lab-made, non-natural virus manufactured at a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
Such allegations appear to be based on a 2015 research paper published in Nature Medicine magazine. Ralph Baric, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Zhengli-Li Shi, a researcher at Wuhan Institute of Virology and member of Chinese Academy of Sciences, are two of the authors of the paper, which outlines the team engineered a hybrid virus using coronavirus found in horseshoe bats in China and tested effectiveness of existing drugs designed to fight SARS.
Back then, the research triggered a debate about biosafety and biosecurity risks, as some experts worried about the detrimental effects on human health if the virus were to escape. The researchers, however, denied this and touted the effectiveness of the preemptive research.
The 2015 paper is back in the spotlight after the recent coronavirus outbreak.
The rare coincidence that one of the co-authors of the "controversial" research is a Chinese virologist working at a virology institute based in Wuhan ― the epicenter of the coronavirus ― appears to have sparked suspicion that the Chinese authorities might have been behind the spread of the killer virus.
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| Matt McCarthy's 2019 book "Superbugs: The Race to Stop an Epidemic" was translated into Korean and published recently by local publishing house Next Wave Media. |
In "Superbugs," McCarthy says that more than 20 million people worldwide develop a skin infection every year, and that for almost 20,000, it proves deadly.
He says superbugs are the result of "poor prescribing practices by doctors along with the indiscriminate use of antibiotics in commercial agriculture and farming" that have "exposed bacteria to our previous arsenal of effective drugs."
In "Superbugs," the American physician reviews the history of antibiotics and reflects on obstacles facing clinical trials, as told through his own experience working on a trial of the antibiotic "Dalvancin." McCarthy tells how he convinced the company Allergan to give him some of the drug for free so he could conduct a trial on several volunteers.
Dalvancin usually costs thousands of dollars for a single dose.
McCarthy's successful trial later led his hospital ― the New York-Presbyterian Hospital ― to approve the drug.
McCarthy said finding suitable patients and persuading them to join his clinical research was challenging.
"Many of the potential volunteers were homeless. A number of these patients told me that they were simply looking for a warm place to sleep and the hospital seemed like a pretty good option," his book reads.
Informed consent also posed a challenge. Some of the patients McCarthy deemed suitable for his research decided not to participate because of risks associated with the untested drug.
The first patient who signed a consent form to join his clinical research was a trial lawyer. After reading through the legal document, the lawyer asked, "I just have one question for you. Would you give this drug to your own mother?" McCarthy responded immediately that "yes," he would.
"Superbugs" suggests an answer to the question as to why the development of drugs to treat anti-biotic-resistant bacteria has been slow.
The book says that pharmaceutical companies are not excited about investing money into the development of anti-superbug treatments because it requires billions of dollars, and the risks of failure are so high.
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