Editorial

The grave problem of antibiotic resistant micro-organisms has hit the headlines again.

Malta has already been chastised in an EU health-care report over the serious problem it faces due to its poor control of the methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus, better known as MRSA.

A total of 250 cases of MRSA have already been registered in Malta in the first half of this year. Only recently, operations had to be cancelled after three cases were admitted to Fairyland ward at St Luke's Hospital in the span of a few weeks.

The consultant paediatric surgeon, Chris Fearne, claims that MRSA is not spreading from the hospital but is being introduced by patients from the community. Whatever the case, this worrisome prevalence of MRSA is of great concern for the public health authorities.

It is known that two per cent of the elderly in Malta are carriers. A study is now being carried out to assess what percentage of children are affected. More importantly, it is vital for the health authorities to measure the trend of the presence of antibiotic resistant micro-organisms in the community.

Antibiotic resistance will be one of the major challenges facing the medical profession. With the ever increasing use of antibiotics, more and more of these bugs are developing resistance. This is the elementary rule of evolution. As weaker bacterial strains are wiped out, the resistant survivors remain.

This excessive use, or rather misuse, of antibiotics is more common in the Mediterranean than in Northern European countries. Many people take antibiotics for trivial infections or viral infections such as the common cold and flu when their use is worse than useless. Besides the unnecessary prescribing by some doctors who feel compelled to give their patient a "medicine", a number of people take antibiotics without a prescription.

Quite often, as most antibiotics are now taken orally, patients stop taking the full course of treatment as soon as they feel better. This half-hearted administration of antibiotics is naturally more conducive to the promotion of bacterial resistance.

Unfortunately, contrary to a public opinion that believes the war against microorganisms is won, the omnipotence of antibiotic therapy is a myth. As time goes on, more and more bacteria and viruses are developing resistance.

Meanwhile, although the pharmaceutical industry is developing new antibiotics, this is not fast enough to keep pace with the increasingly resistant bacterial strains that are emerging.

For quite some time there have been no dramatic breakthroughs to equal the discovery of Penicillin. This sobering reality should prod the public authorities into introducing much stricter measures in the use of antibiotics. Their use has to be cut down and only employed when strictly necessary.

Above all, the importance of hygiene has to recover its pride of place in infection control in every sphere of medical treatment, particularly in hospitals. Proper hand-washing between patients has to be a must for doctors and nurses. The risk of cross infection in the current situation involves too high a risk.

Patients undergoing medical treatment are already weakened by sickness or injury, making them more vulnerable to infection. Also, the close proximity of people and patients in the confined spaces of hospitals and clinics makes the transmission of infections that much easier.

The curse of "superbugs" has to be addressed. Otherwise, matters will spiral out of control. The medical authorities should realise that there is no room for complacency when so much is at stake.