Leading experts are claiming that now more than ever strict hygiene and sanitation management of environments is important when battling superbugs.
Keeping environments clean and disinfected, providing essential products such as soap in soap dispensers, hand dryers or paper towel dispensers, clean floors and surfaces and steam-cleaned carpets help prevent the spread of infections.
Unfortunately superbugs are becoming ever more resistant to the antibiotics currently used to fight these deadly infections and there has been a reduction in investment to develop the drugs to combat them.
The European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) announced worrying statistics that in some countries up to 50 per cent of cases of blood poisoning caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae were resistant to Carbapenems, the most powerful class of antibiotics.
Throughout Europe, the percentage of Carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae has doubled from 7 per cent to 15 per cent. This is troublesome because Carbapenems are the final option antibiotics for treatment of multi-drug-resistant infections.
It is believed that over-prescription of antibiotics globally has led to these harsh and resistant strains, this means using soap dispensers regularly is more important than ever.
Guidance has improved in hospitals and researchers want healthcare practitioners to avoid long treatment and replace broad-spectrum antibiotics with those targeted at the specific infection.
James Salkeld, head of healthcare at Bioquell said, “The calls for antimicrobial stewardship and increased research into antibiotics are welcome, although they only address part of the problem.
“The advent of untreatable pathogens has raised the stakes, and should bring about a genuine move to zero tolerance infection control policies, including hand hygiene and decontamination of the patient surroundings.”
While hospitals remain the most at risk environment for spreading superbugs, following proper hygiene practices everywhere can help prevent people from contracting antibiotic-resistant infections. Always wash your hands using soap from a soap dispenser and dry using a hand dryer.