Thousands could have been superbug victim

Public Health England figures released

DEADLY superbugs may have killed thousands of people in our region last year.

Figures released by Public Health England have revealed how many people died after being infected by bacteria such as MRSA and E. coli in 2017/18.

Overall, 3,983 people across the Midlands and East of England died within 30 days of contracting these kinds of infections - although it should be emphasised that these deaths may or may not have been directly caused by the bacteria.

More people died after contracting E. coli than any other superbug, with 1,675 people in our region dying a month after contracting the infection last year.

It was followed by MSSA (714), C. diff (650) and Klebsiella spp. (560). Meanwhile, P. aeruginosa was connected to 322 deaths, while MRSA was linked with 62.

However, while E. coli was linked to the most deaths, it is actually the least-likely superbug to kill you, should you catch it.

In total, there were 11,577 cases of E. coli in the Midlands and East of England reported to Public Health England in 2017/18 - 11,299 of which were successfully matched to NHS patients.

It means just 15% of people who were confirmed to have contracted the bacteria died within 30 days of becoming infected - and the proportion is even lower when the unmatched reports are taken into account.

Most cases of E. coli infections are caused by contaminated food or water, and the bacteria can lead to serious food poisoning.

Symptoms include severe abdominal cramps, diarrhea that typically turns bloody within 24 hours, and sometimes fever.

Nationally, some 81% of E. coli cases were contracted within the community, rather than in hospital.

Meanwhile, MRSA is actually the deadliest of the superbugs, although it killed the fewest people.

In total 196 cases of MRSA were reported, 193 of which were matched to NHS data - meaning that in 32% of confirmed cases the person died.

MRSA lives harmlessly on the skin of around one in 30 people, and it can be transferred by touching someone who has it, sharing things like towels, and touching surfaces that have the bacteria on them.

Most of the time, it won’t make you ill, but MRSA can cause an infection if it gets deeper into your body, causing redness, swelling, aches and pains and fever.

Again, some 67% of cases are contracted outside of hospital.

P. aeruginosa - which causes inflammation and sepsis - also has a particularly high risk of death, with 28% of people who contract it dying within a month.

Meanwhile, both MSSA and Klebsiella spp. infections saw death follow 22% of reports, and C. diff 17%.

Generally, deaths following the contraction of superbugs have been falling in the Midlands and East of England over the last decade, but in some cases they have started to creep up again in the last year.

This is the first time that figures on Klebsiella spp. And P. aeruginosa have been recorded, but C. diff and MSSA have both seen the number of deaths rise.

Between them, these particular superbugs were linked to 1,364 deaths in 2017/18 - up from 1,205 the year before.

That is mainly because more people are contracting these two infections in the first place, with total reports in our region increasing from 6,882 in 2016/17 to 7,233 last year.

Nationally, 13,368 people died after being infected by superbugs in 2017/18 - 5,865 from E. Coli, 2,328 from MSSA, 1,977 from C. diff, 1,863 from Klebsiella spp., 1,116 from P. aeruginosa and 219 from MRSA.