Superbug fear over resistance to antibiotics

Widespread overuse of antibiotics could have greatly increased the risk of the spread of superbugs, say experts.

Mainland Chinese people have far more antibiotic-resistant genes in their gut microbes than Europeans, a study revealed. This is blamed on overprescription by doctors and the extensive use of antibiotics by farmers and food producers.

And it could mean the drugs would be unable to fight serious infections, enabling them to spread quickly.

The study, published in the science journal Nature Communications, found mainland Chinese have genes resistant to 70 major types of antibiotics in their gut microbes, compared to 49 in Spain and 45 in Denmark.

While the abuse of antibiotics is a global problem, the study has provided the first concrete evidence that the problem is particularly serious in mainland China.

University of Hong Kong microbiologist Ho Pak-leung said: "The gut is a favourable breeding environment for bacteria. More antibiotic resistant genes in the gut … would increase the chance of superbugs developing there."