Warning on the rise of 'super' E coli bugs

TYPES of E coli which are resistant to antibiotics could become more common in the community, putting people at risk of serious infections, scientists warned yesterday.

E coli is a common bacteria found in the stomach and is normally harmless.

But researchers warned that an increasing number of E coli strains resistant to antibiotics are being discovered in many countries, including the UK.

Writing in the Lancet Infectious Diseases, the Canadian team called for improvements in tracking and monitoring of the resistant E coli, which it warned could be increasingly acquired in the community.

E coli – the harmless strains and those that can cause illness – are usually passed through contaminated food or water, or from infected people.

The most serious form of the infection – E coli O157 – can cause serious illness and death in vulnerable patients.

The latest study looked at how some strains of E coli are acquiring antibiotic resistance.

Dr Johann Pitout and colleagues at Canada's University of Calgary said antibiotic-resistant strains of E coli could also increase in the community in people not exposed to them in the hospital environment, where antibiotic-resistant infections are more common.

They compared the situation with the recent growth of community-acquired MRSA, where healthy people become infected with the superbug without being in hospital.

The researchers looked at E coli strains that produce extended-spectrum beta-lactamases – enzymes which cause antibiotic resistance.

They found that surveys in many countries, including the UK, Spain, Italy, Greece and Canada, showed a trend towards E coli developing resistance to a variety of antibiotics, making them more difficult to treat.

These E coli strains commonly caused urinary tract infections. But the researchers said E coli had more recently been found to cause bloodstream infections, which have more serious consequences for patients.

The team said: "These infections are currently rare, but it is possible that, in the near future, clinicians will be regularly confronted with hospital types of bacteria causing infections in patients in the community."

Dr Andrew Berrington, a consultant microbiologist at Sunderland Royal Hospital, said the report was a "timely reminder" of the problem of resistant E coli strains.

"This is a battle we should monitor better, but not one we can win," he said. What was previously regarded as a hospital problem is now being seen in the community as well."

The UK's Health Protection Agency said it had been monitoring the spread of resistant E coli infection for many years.

"Like MRSA, this isn't something we can eradicate completely, but we can offer advice and guidance to try to raise awareness and minimise the problem," a spokesman said.

THE DRUGS DON'T WORK

ANTIBIOTICS are a key treatment for many potentially serious infections.

When bacteria become resistant to many of the most commonly used antibiotics, it makes treatment much more difficult.

In recent years, doctors have grown increasingly concerned about resistant strains of Escherichia coli (E coli).

Extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) are enzymes that can be produced by bacteria, making them resistant to common antibiotics. ESBL-producing E coli can cause more serious infections.

According to the Health Protection Agency (HPA), ESBLs were first described in the mid-1980s. Until recently, the numbers of patients affected remained small.

But a new class of ESBL – called CTX-M enzymes – has emerged and these have been widely detected among E coli bacteria.

These ESBL-producing E coli are able to resist penicillins and other antibiotics, making treatment of infected patients more difficult.

The HPA is currently investigating the enzymes, their genetics and the organisms that produce them.