Superbugs – A concern of Modern Health care  –Are there simple ways -

The last true revolution in infection control occurred in 1867 when British surgeon Joseph Lister

began using carbolic acid as an antiseptic, significantly reducing mortality rates from infection by 30

percent within a decade. There is now a genuine threat of humanity returning to an era where

mortality due to common infections is rife. Now many are aware that our Antibiotic pipe line has

become narrow and little is flowing out, as few firms are interested to develop new Antibiotics as

they lose efficacy due to irrational use of Antibiotics. One patient out of every 20 admitted to

hospital contracts a nosocomial infection, (an infection the patient did not have when they entered

the facility), and with 1.8 million people per year acquiring an infection during their hospital stays

(USA). More than 99,000 Americans die annually — that’s 270 deaths every day. The elderly and

immunocompromised patients are particularly at risk. If this was the incidence imagine how many

are dying in a country like India, it is not death of a person many resistant strains are spread in the

Hospital environment keeping very one guessing who will be infected and die with the

consequences. While the threats have grown more sophisticated, the methods of controlling and

preventing these life-threatening infections have not.

Current HAI prevention practices include:

• Isolating infected patients. 

• Requiring staff to wash their hands after each patient examination.

• Wearing protective gowns, masks, gloves and other equipment. 

• Cleaning rooms with harsh chemicals such as hydrogen peroxide. 

There is now a genuine threat of humanity returning to an era where mortality due to common

infections is rife,"

While microbes typically developed resistance to drugs in hospitals and healthcare facilities, a

concerning trend was the increased number of people acquiring antibiotic-resistant infections in

their communities. Many organisms, known as superbugs, were now resistant to multiple drugs.

Drug-resistant microbes also entered the country with travellers, and no single country can be

blamed for the events as it is a Global concern need health care efforts to reduce the incidence

The most common life threating infection types are respiratory tract infections such as pneumonia

and infections of the bloodstream. These are often caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae and E. coli

bacteria, both of which have shown an ability to develop resistance to some of the most powerful

antibiotics. Among many reported healthcare-associated infections, surgical site infections and

urinary tract infections are also common. Many of the infections are also found to be drug-resistant

"superbugs", as per our observation, We have proposed for analysing the patients who are staying

in the hospitals for various reasons for more than 2 weeks, and on Antibiotics, as they are

important group of patients who are likely to be put on several antibiotics, and most likely

harbour the drug resistant bacteria, which need more evaluations and health care awareness to

reduce to spread to other patients, This we consider a primary step in the prevention of local

spread of Multi drug and Pan resistant strains in our Hospital . This may lead also a path to know it

is mere Antibiotics alone contribute to morbidity and mortality and we wish to increase the

 

frequency of Hand washing in these areas, as simple measures have great impact on human safety.

Dr.T.V.Rao. MD Professor of Microbiology, Travancore Medical College, Kollam. Kerala