An enzyme called New Delhi Metallo-beta-lactamase-1 or NDM-1 is present in bacteria resistant to nearly all known antibiotics, including the carbapenem family, considered the strongest and most reliable antibiotics for many infections.
For several years now, the Balkans region, and Greece especially, has reported the appearance of infections caused by enterobacteriae resistant to carbapanems. Elsewhere in Europe, such strains are rare.
The first NDM-1 case in Croatia was reported in 2009 and since then there have been 17 sporadic cases, including four last year.
The HZJZ said Croatia had been systematically monitoring resistant bacteria for more than ten years, whereas Serbia did not have such a system, making it difficult to say how many cases of infections it had had.