Superbugs got stimulated by antibiotics, not filthy hospitals: Research

Antibiotics overuse like ciprofloxacin led to the outbreak of severe diarrhoea caused by C difficile superbug that hit headlines in the UK from 2006 onwards.

New Delhi: As per a recent study, researchers have claimed that widespread overuse of antibiotics is the reason which stimulated superbugs.

Antibiotics overuse like ciprofloxacin led to the outbreak of severe diarrhoea caused by C difficile superbug that hit headlines in the UK from 2006 onwards, according to a new study published today.

The outbreak was stopped by substantially reducing use of ciprofloxacin and related antibiotics, researchers said.

Inappropriate use and widespread over prescribing of fluoroquinolone antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin allowed Clostridium difficile bugs that were resistant to the drug to thrive, because non-resistant bugs in the gut were killed off by the antibiotic, leaving the way clear for rapid growth of resistant C difficile.

Concerns about hospital "superbugs" which had become resistant to common antibiotics resulted in the announcement of a programme of "deep cleaning" and other infection control measures in the UK's National Health Service (NHS) in 2007.

(With PTI inputs)