As many as one in four nursing home residents is colonised with a multi-resistant form of E. coli, with inappropriate use of antibiotic to blame, a study (link) from Victoria suggests.
A survey of 140 residents of three Melbourne nursing homes found that contrary to expectations there were only low levels of superbugs seen in hospitals such as vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), and Clostridium difficile, researchers report in the MJA this week.
However, the survey of faecal samples found that but that 12% of residents, and up to 27% of residents in one residential aged care facility, were colonised with extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing E. coli.
The infectious disease specialists from Monash Medical Centre say the resistant E...
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