Hong Kong Hospital Authority warns of surge in 2 superbugs, turns to AI in fight against antibiotic overuse
- Number of patients carrying vancomycin-resistant enterococci and Candida auris has increased in first three quarters of 2023, Dr Raymond Lai says
- AI-driven pilot scheme to analyse clinical data and determine whether antibiotics are necessary for treatment
Two superbugs are on the rise among patients in Hong Kong, the Hospital Authority has warned while announcing a pilot scheme that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to combat antibiotic overuse.
Dr Raymond Lai Wai-man, the authority’s chief infection control officer, said the number of patients carrying vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and Candida auris had increased in the first three quarters of 2023 compared with previous years.
Lai attributed the trend to fewer resources allocated to combating multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) over the past two to three years as efforts were redirected to battle the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We used many isolation wards for Covid-19 patients, which means there were fewer wards for those infected with MDROs,” he said. “Our staff spent a lot of time taking care of Covid-19 patients.
“Also, when Covid-19 patients were hospitalised, they might have been in poor condition with pneumonia. As doctors were worried there could be co-infections, they might have prescribed broad-spectrum antibiotics.”
But he explained that after a drop in coronavirus infections this year, the prevalence of commonly occurring superbugs had returned to pre-pandemic levels, except for VRE and Candida auris.