Deadly bacteria kills 18

SAO PAULO (AP):

An outbreak of deadly antibiotic-resistant bacteria in Brazil has killed at least 18 people around Brazil's capital, officials said yesterday, and has prompted hurried measures to keep the problem from spreading.

The outbreak of klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase in Brasilia follows others in Israel in 2007 and in Puerto Rico in 2008, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Brazil's national health agency said the known toll so far stands at 18 dead, with 183 people hospitalised with the infection in the nation's capital last Thursday. The figures are updated on a weekly basis.

According to a statement on the website of the Federal District's Health Secretariat, from January 1 to October 1, the number of known cases in Brasilia was 108 people, meaning there was a spike of nearly 70 per cent in the last three weeks.

A spokeswoman for the agency said the rise did not necessarily mean the danger of infections was growing; it might be due to increasing vigilance and testing for the infections.