Dealing with superbugs

With medical science constantly moving forward, so is our understanding of the role played by infection control within the surgery. Thanks to the numerous advances in this field over the past few decades and an increased awareness of pre-emptively decontaminating possible sources of infection before they spread, outbreaks of potentially deadly diseases such as typhoid, tuberculosis and smallpox have largely become a thing of the past. Cleaning and disinfecting our hands, equipment and work surfaces prior to treatment, as well as treatment of existing bacterial infection with antibiotics, has become standard procedure across the globe.

However, things have taken a turn in more recent years, with frequent improper or incomplete application of infection control measures giving rise to what tabloid newspapers feverishly refer to as the 'superbug'. As bacteria have been exposed to bactericidal agents and antibiotics, any microorganisms that survive exposure have gradually developed resistances. This resistance has then been passed to the next generation. With the majority of microorganisms demonstrating an astoundingly fast reproduction rate, strains exhibiting this immunity can grow to vast numbers in very short periods of time, leading to a new dominant form of the original.