Superbugs ‘being spread by tourists’

♦ Superbugs are being spread by travellers to South Asia and the Middle East, a study by Public Health England and the University of Birmingham has found.

People who have travelled to areas of the world with high rates of antibiotic resistance are more likely to carry bugs, and could pass them to family and housemates. Bacteria such as E.coli and Klebsiella are carried by everyone but can become dangerous.

“The findings show the problem of antibiotic resistance is global and that bugs bred in one country quickly spread to another due to global travel,” Prof Peter Hawkey, a microbiologist at the University of Birmingham, who carried out the research, told The Bureau of Investigative Journalism.