Experts have warned that cases of potentially fatal superbugs resistant to all antibiotics are increasing across Britain and Europe.
A survey of intensive care doctors found that half treated at least one patient with an infection that was totally resistant or almost totally resistant to antibiotics during the past six months. One in five had seen more than three patients and some had seen more than ten patients with the superbugs. The true scale of antibiotic resistant infections in Britain is unknown because reporting of most types is voluntary. Only cases of MRSA and Clostridium difficile must be reported to officials but the report said other bacteria including E.coli and bugs that cause pneumonia are increasingly becoming resistant to drugs. The report, published in the infectious disease journal Eurosurveillance, said the figures were likely to be an underestimate because the survey only covered a snapshot in time and a small number of doctors across Europe. Daily Telegraph, November 18, 2009