The superbug resistant to hospital handwash

SUPERBUGS are becoming resistant to the handwashes used in hospitals, new research shows.

Scientists made the worrying discovery after testing bacterial samples collected over 19 years.

They found strong evidence that a type of superbug called vancomycin-resistant enterococcus, or VRE, is growing immune to alcohol-based disinfectants.

VRE infections are some of the most difficult to treat because the bacteria are resistant to many classes of antibiotic, including vancomycin, known as the ‘last resort’ drug.

The infections commonly caused are to wounds, the blood stream, urinary tract and others such as the bile duct or heart valves. To combat dangerous microbes, hospitals in the UK and around the world have adopted strict hand-hygiene procedures.

The Australian team of scientists screened 139 enterococcus samples collected from two hospitals from 1997 to 2015 to see how well the bugs survived when exposed to diluted isopropyl alcohol – which usually kills bacteria.

Those obtained after 2009 were found to be more tolerant to the disinfectant than those found before 2004.

In another part of the study, bacteria were seeded on the floors of laboratory mouse cages. Alcohol- tolerant microbes were better able to colonise the guts of mice after the cages were cleaned with disinfectant wipes.

The researchers traced the resistance to alcohol-based disinfectants to several enterococcus mutations in genes that play a role in metabolism.

Lead scientist Professor Tim Stinear, from the Doherty Institute in Melbourne, described the sanitiser- resistant VRE strains as ‘a new wave of emerging superbugs’.

‘Alcohol-based hand hygiene use has increased tenfold over the past 20 years in Australian hospitals, so we are using a lot and the environment is changing,’ he added.

Writing in the journal Science Translational Medicine, the team said efforts to combat superbugs should focus on how bacteria become resistant to disinfectants and antibiotics.

Team member Professor Paul Johnson emphasised that alcohol hand cleansing is still important. He said: ‘Alcohol-based hand rubs are international pillars of hospital infection control and remain highly effective in reducing transmission of other hospital superbugs, particularly methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).’