'Standardised System Needed To Monitor Superbugs'

Researchers from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) have called for a standardised system to provide big data to monitor superbug infections in the city.

An active surveillance system has been in place in public hospitals since 2010 to screen patients carrying carbapenemase-producing enterobacteriaceae (CPE), one of the common superbugs found in Hong Kong.

That's aimed at preventing the superbug, which lives in the gut, from being transmitted to patients with lower immunity.

But Peng Wu, assistant professor of HKU's School of Public Health, said a new standardised monitoring system is needed to provide big data to monitor superbug infections in Hong Kong overall.

"More research is needed to know how antimicrobial resistance is developed and how it is transmitted. Building on this knowledge, we can explore what interventions might be useful to control or reduce antimicrobial resistance," Wu said.

The university's researchers said infections caused by CPE have climbed in recent years, with more cases in summer. According to Hospital Authority data, the number of cases rose from 19 in 2011 to 340 in 2015.

Celine Chui, assistant professor of the university's School of Nursing and School of Public Health, said she's worried about the increasing cases of infections as superbugs are resistant to many antibiotics, making medications not applicable to patients and increasing their risks of having serious complications or even deaths.

"We can carry CPE without developing symptoms, but if we come to a circumstance where we have lower immunity and the CPE causes infection in our body, the treatment options that we have would be very limited," she said.

"Antimicrobial resistance is bound to happen. It's just the matter of time. We have to make sure we are using antibiotics appropriately."

The researchers said the public should be better educated to avoid misuse or overuse of antibiotics.