A report from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute found Stenotrophomonas maltophilia has the capacity to develop drug resistance rapidly.

New superbug Steno a growing threat to hospital patients.

The latest superbug scare is for so-called "Steno" or Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, which is a bacterial infection that lives in wet areas such as taps, showerheads, catheter tubes are other such places.

An analysis by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute has discovered that this bug has the capacity to develop drug resistance rapidly.

Steno is in fact common, and is found in homes and other places and is generally not a threat to health people. However those with weakend immune systems are at risk, and of course hospitals are full of such people - that is why they are there.

Today Steno infections are responsible for less than 1% of hospital acquired cases, with a total of 1000 cases each yar in the UK - a third of whcih prove fatal.

The bug can cling to wet areas and form a "bio-film" which is difficult to remove.

Despite this latest report, the Health Protection Agency said the threat should not be over-stated. A spokesperson said: "The infection does not spread in the manner of MRSA or C. difficile - there is little spread between patients, and infections are mostly caused by one-off strains."


This content was created on Wed 7 May 2008

More like this
Illnesses
News and Comment
Prevention
Use this page



Privacy Terms | Advertisers | Legal Disclaimer | Contact
© 2007 TheFamilyGP.com