(Alex Matthews-King/ The Independent) — Scientists have sounded an alarm in the fight against superbugs after finding evidence that bacteria are growing resistant to alcohol hand sanitisers integral to controlling infections.
Researchers made the worrying finding while investigating why some species of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in Australian hospitals have become a growing menace despite the widespread use of hand gel disinfectants.
They focused on a group gut bacteria known as the enterococci, which are a growing problem around the world as they are increasingly resistant to treatment with even last-resort antibiotics like the drug vancomycin.
Testing bacterial samples taken from Australian hospitals over a 19-year period, they found the bacteria are now much better at surviving in sterilised environments, and going on to cause infections.
If this trend continues hospitals may no longer be able to rely on these measures to prevent outbreaks from infecting older people and those too ill to fight off infection, the authors warned in a study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine on Wednesday. (…)