What is ndm-1?
ND Metallo-beta-lactamase (NDM-1)[1] is a gene that makes bacteria resistant to antibiotics of the carbapenem family. It encodes a type of beta-lactamase enzyme called a carbapenemase. Bacteria that carry this gene are often referred to by news reporters as “superbugs.”[2] There are currently no new drugs in the research pipelines that aim to stop NDM-1.[3] To date, some strains of E.coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae are known carriers of the gene, but the gene can be transmitted from one strain of bacteria to another through horizontal gene transfer.