The week gone by was the week of the superbug — a bug that can resist the toughest of antibiotics and thus spells doom for healthcare givers. Though it has been lurking in Indian soils for a while, and was acutally named New Delhi metalloßlactamase 1 (NDM1) a couple of years back, the Lancet article on the superbug has created fresh ripples — with policy makers, governments, medical tourists and hospitals trying to balance theory and practice on fragile ground.

The facts: the superbug exists and is resistant to even carbapenems, top of the line antibiotics. Indian authorites are in a denial mode, displeased with the name that they think will make a dent in the country’s medical tourism prospects. There is no solid evidence, despite the nomenclature, that the bug originated in India. The hype is as expected in such cases — given an alarmist tenor by the enthusiastic media (’superbug’s on the prowl and will get you soon’) and the crossfire between the well meaning researchers and pharma-bashing do gooders.

The result: an unfolding drama whose end is yet to come (worth a try Mr. Robin Cook!). In the meantime, we can forget about the superbug and the possibilities of working around it.

The health care bill passed this week in the US House was meant to serve as a Band-aid for a country in which millions of people have lived for decades without basic medical assistance. But the debate leading up to Sunday night’s vote seems to have rehashed old wounds rather than heal them. On Saturday, protesters in the nation’s capital spat on a black congressman and shouted racial and homophobic slurs at a few other lawmakers.

At another rally last week in Columbus, Ohio, opponents of health reform taunted a man with Parkinson’s disease. The event was caught on film.

Bob, the man with Parkinson’s, later responded to the scorn he faced.

For the health of nation, let’s hope that a cure is found for such disrespectful behavior.

For more coverage from Nature Medicine about the lead-up to the health care debate, you can take a look back at the following stories:

· ‘Cure acceleration’ funds woven into health reform legislation

· Value of health interventions underestimated by governments

· Straight talk with…Christopher Murray, head of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

Woes abound for Merck and Schering-Plough. The pharma companies shares have nose-dived (WSJ) after a report into the combination cholesterol drug Vytorin that they co-own. The report shows that while Vytorin reduced lipid levels, it didn’t help patients with heart-valve disease – which was being targeted in this particular trial.

Worse than that the drug seemed to cause an increase in the risk of cancer, although the companies are denying any link there, saying that if Vytorin were somehow triggering cancer, ‘new cases would first become more common after several years and would be concentrated on one type of cancer, rather than many’ (from Yahoo news/AP) .

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