Superbug Kills A Third Of Infected

9:06am UK, Wednesday May 07, 2008

A new superbug that kills a third of those affected by it is resistant to antibiotics, Health experts are warning.

The bug grows into a 'biofilm'

Doctors have warned that the bug is able to cling to hospital catheters or ventilation tubes, further threatening the health of patients.

Researchers studying Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, more commonly referred to as Steno, said they found that antibiotics was more or less useless against the bug.

"This is the latest in an ever-increasing list of antibiotic-resistant hospital superbugs," said Dr Matthew Avison from the University of Bristol, who co-led the research team.

"The degree of resistance it shows is very worrying.

"Strains are now emerging that are resistant to all available antibiotics, and so new drugs capable of combating these pan-resistant strains are currently in development."

If infected, patients can develop blood poisoning or in some cases pneumonia.

Some 1,000 cases of blood poisoning caused by Steno are reported in the UK each year. Of these, almost a third are fatal.

Researchers say the microbe is able to grow into a 'biofilm' which can cover equipment such as catheters or ventilation tubes.

The biofilm is said to be difficult to remove by normal hospital cleaning.

From such surfaces, the superbug is able to enter a patient's bloodstream or lungs - especially if the equipment has been in place for a long period of time.

Experts said they were now looking at Steno's DNA for a way to combat the bug.

"If we know which proteins cause it to stick to surfaces, we could try to develop biochemical compounds that interfere with this interaction," said Dr Lisa Crossman, from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, who also took part in the research.