‘Greater threat than cancer’

THE emergence of antibiotic-resistant superbugs has been described as, potentially, a bigger threat than terrorism or cancer.

Over time, common bugs responsible for infections in humans have mutated to form a resistance to the medicinal antibiotics used by doctors. This mutation occurred because, historically, GPs were quick to prescribe antibiotics, even if they were unnecessary, and they were also used heavily to treat sick farm animals.

As the bugs came into contact with the antibiotics more frequently, they changed to ensure they could survive and thrive.

These mutations have meant that the number of antibiotics that doctors can use to treat the sick by killing these harmful bacteria has

diminished. In recent years doctors have turned to colistin, an antibiotic of last resort, because it is effective in killing bacteria that have become resistant.

However, it is now known that food poisoning bugs, such as E. coli, can carry a gene that makes them resistant even to colistin.

Consequently, someone who falls sick with any resulting infection could be difficult, if not impossible, to treat. The colistin-resistant bugs was first identified in pigs in China in 2015 by a team led by Timothy Walsh, Professor of Medical Microbiology at Cardiff University.

The news triggered a worldwide medical panic and China banned the use of colistin on farms.

However, it remains a licensed drug for use on farms in the UK.