New Superbug Outbreak Sweeps Southern England

Link: RedNova

An outbreak of a superbug resistant to antibiotics has infected more than 1,000 people and caused dozens of deaths. The bug, which can lead to blood poisoning, is spreading in southern England and is more serious than Clostridium difficile, which hit the headlines last month after a virulent strain infected 15 hospitals. The new superbug, an antibiotic-resistant strain of E.coli, put 357 people in hospital in the Southampton area in 2004, half of all those infected, and caused 29 deaths. It is still spreading and attempts to control it have failed. Details of the outbreak were contained in the annual report of Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer (CMO), published yesterday. The disclosure comes after growing concern about the hospital-acquired infections MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and C.difficile, which have led to many deaths throughout the NHS. Last month, Patricia Hewitt, the Secretary of State for Health, ordered an inquiry into an outbreak of C.difficile at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire, which has infected 300 patients and caused 12 deaths since 2003. Unlike MRSA and C.difficile, the E.coli bug is concentrated in people living in the community. Difficulties in containing the outbreak have been compounded by laboratories which have used inadequate methods to identify the infection.

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