Restricting antibiotics could be key to fighting "superbug"

New ways are needed to fight the infection Clostridium difficile and better use of antibiotics could be key, according to the authors of ground-breaking research. In a unique United Kingdom study, the team from the University of Leeds, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust and Oxford University, mapped all cases of Clostridium difficile (C.diff) in Oxfordshire over a three-year period (2008 to 2011). C. diff causes severe diarrhoea, cramps and sometimes life-threatening complications, and has traditionally been thought to be transmitted within hospitals from other sick C.diff patients. The research found that less than one in five cases of the so called “hospital superbug” were likely to have been caught from other hospital cases of C.diff, where the focus of infection control measures has been. Researchers also found the total number of cases of C.diff, whether acquired from other sick patients in hospitals or acquired from elsewhere, fell over the three-year period. As a result, the research suggested stringent infection control measures in hospitals were not the most significant factor in curbing the infection. Professor Mark Wilcox, of the University of Leeds and Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, leads on C. diff infection for Public Health England and was member of the study team.