A glimpse at the Indian media last week would have definitely made everyone hear the victory bugles that were playing from every quarter. The reason being the supposed apology from the editor of Lancet - the medical journal where the article on NDM-1 super bug (New Delhi metallo lactamase) was first published. This super bug has become a celebrity of sorts as it is forever in the media limelight for all the wrong reasons! First, there was the super bug controversy subsequent to the publication of the article in Lancet and then there is another hullabaloo now about the "apology" from the editor.
For the uninitiated, the reputed British journal LANCET had published a collaborative work, involving several groups from India, Pakistan the UK, which claimed that a bacterial gene that confers resistance to practically all the β-lactam antibiotics was widespread across the Indian subcontinent. Furthermore, riding on carriers and patients, this “superbug” was traveling to other continents. Since most antibiotics, including the frontline carbapenems were ineffective against the bacteria that harbored this gene, it seemed to be an unstoppable medical crisis. This resistance conferring gene is mainly carried on plasmids and was called the New Delhi β-lactamase (NDM-1). It was named after New Delhi simply because it was first identified in european patients who had just returned from India (as medical tourists) and extensive molecular analysis suggested that the bug did originate on the Indian subcontinent. This was done probably without any great thought by simply following normal scientific convention for nomenclature of new discoveries especially the beta lactamases.
This article however created a frenzy in the Indian media. A normal thinking person would probably say that the frenzy is justified because after all you've discovered a bug which is resistant to all available antibiotics and India is a densely populated country with significant health care issues, so it is time that the government did something to control the spread. But, here is the TWIST !!!
Surprise Surprise, the media hype was not for the problem of the bug or the medical issues at the forefront but it was about the nomenclature !!!!
"Why was the bug called 'NDM-1'?" The entire country went on a hyper-emotive overdrive as it criticized the researchers, the journal, etc etc. The media and the government were quick to denounce the findings of the report. It was labeled unscientific and unacceptable in addition to being the handiwork of a pharmaceutical lobby! It was declared to be treacherous plot by the west to destroy our burgeoning “medical tourism industry”! This report was thus portrayed as an attempt by the West to paint a dirty and disease-spreading image of India, the rising economic power. Hence, it was implied, that it is the duty of every patriotic Indian to protest to this “national insult” towards restoring the “India shining” image.
I have already clarified the underlying dynamics of this issue in a previous post of mine but basically, it is imperative to remember that naming a new organism or enzyme after its source, site-of-first-identification or discoverer is part of scientific convention, specifically, with regard to this particular group of enzymes! Think Lyme disease, as in Lyme, Connecticut, or Norwalk virus, as in Norwalk, Ohio. Think of Clostridium botulinum strain Alaska and Anaplasma centrale strain Israel. And several other organisms have been named so - the banyan tree is named as Ficus benghalenesis ; one of the most virulent of pathogens, the causative agent for TB, is called Mycobacterium tuberculosis Beijing ; a new frog species found in Sahyadari (Western Ghats) has been named Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis. In 1961, a dinosaur was named as Barapasaurus tagorei as its discovery coincided with the birth centenary of Tagore. All these were also named after India or other cities in the world. No one raised a hue and a cry then. Thus, there doesn't seem to be much of a case against the naming of the bug !!!
But clearly, the bug was a health hazard and there were other more important issues to consider than just focusing on the nomenclature. But thats what happened eventually, as everyone ignored the potential pandemics that could spread through this bug or the urgent need for the discovery of new antibiotics or even the need to cut down on unnecessary prescription and consumption of antibiotics (which has led to the development of such a strain in the first place... ). All that remained was this feeling of hurt and insult because a disease causing pathogen was named after New Delhi !!!
And then with time, as is true for most media frenzies, this controversy died a slow death and everyone forgot about it, till of course the editor of lancet decided to come to India to launch an India chapter of the journal. And then as journalists usually do for a scoop or two, they probed him on the past controversy and the editor - placed in the tough spot that he was, issued rather diplomatic (and meaningless in my opinion) apology. He said that he stood by the findings of the report but is sorry about how the organism was named after India. First of all, this was a diplomatic defense because the editor of a Journal really doesn't have any jurisdiction/opinion on the nomenclature issued by the writers. We all generate several plasmids during the course of our research and no editor can/does ever object to these names!! Secondly, there was no need to apologize because the nomenclature was as per normal scientific convention and there is no need for an entire country to get sentimental about something like this because it honestly doesn't mean anything. And more importantly, despite the apology, he does stand by the findings of the paper !! And thus, this apology is merely a gesture of politeness than of any merit. I guess, the editor, amidst all the media glare just chickened out of telling his host country that they should get over it and should focus on other pressing things.
And here I am, miles away from my country and all i can think is "Why?"...
Why do we as a country focus on appearances and verbal assurances than on the underlying truth and the facts ? It is far more important that we work of eradicating the threat of this super bug than on how and why it was named. Why are we as a country so insecure about ourselves and the worlds perception of us ??? We are a growing nation which is on the threshold of stepping on to the world stage and instead of solving our pressing problems like population, inflation, terrorism, naxalism, corruption, education, health and infrastructure, we are focusing on the name of a bug, on questions of national pride and respect. Ridiculous !!! If we as a people are proud of our nation, it truly shouldn't matter what the west thinks of us. We should have a sense of confidence in our worth which is independent of another view. And we should learn to be mature and self critical not for an award or a title but for our own self. Why doesn't anyone understand that in an increasingly competitive world market, sentiments hardly dictate anything. What matters is efficiency and cost effectiveness... and if we achieve this, the rest of the world will be playing in our backyard like they are in China's now... !!!
As for the editor while I do see his dilemma, i do wish that he was more forthright and had used his diplomatic tact elsewhere. Instead of chickening out he should have been honest and raised the very valid issues behind the naming of the organism and of the other concerns which are more important than the name. But I guess, its easy for me to comment when I am far away from the glares of a nation, seething with hurt and anger.
Through all this, all I see is the need for an effective media which can present news accurately and provide the right perspectives. A media which will responsibly use rationality and evidence to gain an audience than manipulating the sentiments of the masses to gain their petty ends.
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