Researchers in Australia have identified three new superbug strains that are highly resistant to antibiotics and capable of causing incurable infections.
Published on Tuesday in Nature Microbiology, a team from the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity looked at hundreds of Staphylococcus epidermidis (S. epidermidis) isolates from 78 institutions in 10 countries around the world.
Under examination, scientists discovered three strain sub-types of S. epidermidis that have spread globally and are resistant to nearly all antibiotics.
"There is an urgent need for an international monitoring system to understand the prevalence and impact of S. epidermidis and to systematically measure antibiotic resistance and infections due to this pathogen," University of Melbourne Professor Ben Howden said.
"We need a better understanding of how S. epidermidis is persisting in hospitals, because it's happening in an era where MRSA is disappearing through good infection control measures."
Howden suggests that while antibiotics are used as a cautionary measure to prevent infection when implanting patients with devices like catheters, the approach is likely to be promoting the development of resistance.
He also believes that prescribing strong antibiotics in intensive care units too literally could be another factor contributing to the superbug phenomenon.
"The discovery of these new strains means we are now routinely using our last-line antibiotics that are expensive and toxic," Howden said.
"This makes these S. epidermidis infections very costly and difficult-to-treat."
