‘Last hope’ antibiotic may be useless within a decade
Experts warn overuse could mean superbugs are immune to entire arsenal of infection-fighting drugs
SOARING levels of antibiotic resistance have driven a 40 per cent rise in prescriptions of drugs which are only used as a last hope, new figures show.
NHS statistics show increasing use of the medication, which is so toxic that it is only used when standard antibiotics have failed. Experts said the disclosures reflect a “terrifying” crisis which could mean patients suffer lethal consequences from routine procedures.
The figures uncovered by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism show that in just one year prescriptions of colistin have risen from 346,000 to 485,000 daily doses. The drug is used when patients do not respond to standard antibiotics such as penicillin.
Colistin has also been used widely in farming, mainly as a growth-promoter. But in recent years, restrictions have been placed on its use.
China has banned the drug as an animal feed additive and the European Commission recommends that use in agriculture is slashed by two thirds. Yet the investigation also found that last year the Veterinary Medicines Directo- rate licensed three new products containing colistin for use on British farms.
Scientists said the decision was “utter madness” and could mean the “last hope” drug becomes useless within a decade.
A number of cases have already involved resistance to the drug, including the recent case of a woman who died from septic shock in Nevada after tests showed colistin could not stem her bloodstream infection.
In the UK, an estimated 12,000 people die from antibiotic-resistant bugs each year – more than die of breast cancer.
Dr Michael Weinbren, a consultant in infection prevention and control at Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: “The one thing you can be sure of is that the organisms will develop resistance. It’s Darwinian. It’s as sure as eggs are eggs.”
Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer, has said that antibiotic-resistance ranks alongside terrorism as a threat to humanity and may mean simple cuts or infections could prove fatal.
A group of antibiotics known as carbapenems are currently used as a lastditch treatment for superbugs that are not affected by other medicines. This family of bugs, known as carbapenem-resistant En te rob act eri ace ae (C RE ), includes evolved versions of common bacteria such as E.Coli and Klebsiella.
Epidemiologists have called CRE “the nightmare bacteria” because 40 to 50 per cent of people who suffer a bloodstream infection from them die.
When a patient gets a CRE infection, colistin is one of few options doctors have left that has a chance of working.
Prof Peter Wilson, consultant microbiologist at University College Hospital London said: “It’s not an antibiotic doctors would use out of choice.”
The reason colistin still works is partly because it was shelved soon after it was created in the Fifties because it is toxic to the kidneys and nervous system, meaning bacteria did not have a chance to develop resistance.
Prof Timothy Walsh, one of the scientists who originally discovered colistin resistance, said licensing new products containing the drug for use on farms was “sheer, utter madness”. Colistin is likely to become useless as a drug within 10 years if its usage in veterinary medicine is not stopped, he added.
A government spokesman said: “We are leading a national and international fightback against drug resistant infections. We have a comprehensive strategy that includes tackling the bugs in humans and animals, and preventing infections in the first place through good hygiene.”