Report urges EU to step up hospital superbug fight

The European Commission was urged today to step up efforts across Europe to fight hospital superbugs.

The call follows a report warning against complacency following the emergence of drug-resistant strains of existing microbes.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) ranks the Republic of Ireland seventh for superbug problems in a league table of diseases in nearly 30 countries.

Only Portugal, Malta, Cyprus, Romania, The UK and Greece have greater levels of highly-resistant infections picked up in hospital, including the MRSA bacteria.

The first epidemiological report since the ECDC was set up in 2004 highlights the “new” diseases of recent decades, including HIV in the 1980s, variant-CJD in the 1990s and Sars in 2003, as well as the emergence of drug resistant strains of existing microbes.

It expresses concern about the upward trend in HIV in the EU members states, rising rates of “healthcare-associated infections” – often caused by drug-resistant microbes – and the continued threat from tuberculosis.

The report says about three million people in EU countries catch a healthcare-associated infection each year, resulting in death for about 50,000 patients. And one in 10 patients can expect to catch an infection in European hospitals.

EU health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said: “One of the biggest challenges we face is the emergence of new microbes against which our defences are weak, or even non-existent.

“The threat of an influenza pandemic, which could be caused if one of the existing flu viruses were to mutate into a new super-virulent strain, has received much attention in the past two years, and rightly so: pandemic preparedness is, and must remain, a priority for the EU.

“But deadly new microbes can also emerge in less spectacular ways. This report shows that healthcare-associated infections have become a major issue of concern in the EU, with many of these caused by new or emerging drug-resistant microbes.

“It is unacceptable to me that one in every ten patients entering hospital in the EU will catch an infection there. Supporting action to address this problem will be a priority for the Commission and for ECDC in the coming year. ”