After a widespread typhoid outbreak all across Pakistan, scientists have held a highly drug-resistant super-bug to be the cause. According to a report by New York Times, the National Institute of Health in Islamabad has confirmed the first known plague of the expansively drug-resistant typhoid has hit Pakistan, attacking at least 850 people in 14 districts since 2016.

The strain which is resistant to five types of antibiotics is predicted to spread across the globe, according to the National Institute of Health Islamabad.

It is expected to replace the weaker strains in areas where they are common as experts recognise just one remaining working antibiotic.

The World Health Organisation has previously described antibiotic resistance as a “global health emergency”.

Researchers from Britain’s Wellcome Sanger Institute who analysed the genetics of the new typhoid strain found it had mutated and acquired an extra piece of DNA to become resistant to multiple antibiotics.

Pakistani researchers say poor infrastructure, low vaccination rates and overpopulated city centres all contribute to the spread of typhoid, which is common in the country. 

Source: independent.co.uk, thenews.com.pk, dailymail.co.uk