VRSA and Clostridium difficile - The War on the superbugs' has only just begun

You could be forgiven for thinking that MRSA is the worse thing lurking in our hospitals, but as far as superbugs go MRSA is only the support act for some deadly headliners.

In the last decade Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has become as infamous with hospitals as pubs are to Glasgow. But how many of us worry about contracting more dangerous superbugs like Clostridium difficile or VRSA or even PVL associated infections?

In the UK it is estimated that around 40% of patients leave hospital with a hospital acquired infection and the number of community associated cases is also on the rise. But these figures are most likely grossly underestimated.

According to experts the best way to control these outbreaks would be "to screen and isolate all potential cases", advises. But with the number of positive cases for MRSA now heading towards outnumbering those not infected, isolations appears to be impossible.

Like MRSA, the superbugs' Clostridium difficile (C difficile) and Vancomycin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA), have proliferated as a result of the overuse and misuse of antibiotics.
C difficile kills nearly three times more people when compared to MRSA. The bacterium is found in small numbers amidst the normal gut bacteria found. But today, in patients treated with arrays of antibiotics, normal intestinal bacteria levels drop and C difficile advantageously multiplies producing toxins that damage the cells lining the intestine. The result is severe diarrhoea and in some cases ulceration and bleeding. In the UK from 2003 to 2005 the cases of C difficile increased by 29% and in 2006 some health boards recorded increases of another 20 per cent.
A deadly strain of MRSA that produces the necrotising toxin Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) is also concerning health experts. Previously more common in Community associated cases (CA-MRSA) the bug is now becoming more prevalent in hospitals. The PVL toxin destroys leukocytes (white blood cells) that are core to our immune system and the effects can range from skin and soft tissue infections to pneumonia. Once in your lungs you could die in less than 24 hours.

For any of us unlucky enough to contract MRSA the treatment is Vancomycin; nicknamed the last resort drug'. It is the only antibiotic left that has any real effect on the superbug'. But its administration intravenously is

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