Patients infected with 'superbug' die

Two kidney patients who contracted a 'superbug' at Tuen Mun Hospital have died and a third has been found to be infected.

The hospital is now trying to contact 300 other end-stage kidney failure patients to test for the hospital-acquired infection, vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE), which has been linked to the overuse of last-defence antibiotics.

In the first fatal cases in Hong Kong, the two patients, who died of kidney failure, were found to have been infected with VRE. A 67-year-old man died early last month, while the second man, 66, died last Monday. Another man was admitted to Tuen Mun Hospital but his condition was not known last night. Kidney patients on dialysis regularly use vancomycin to treat intestinal infections.

Infectious disease experts said the cases showed hospitals had a long way to go in controlling the use of antibiotics.

University of Hong Kong microbiologist Professor Yuen Kwok-yung, chair professor of the infectious diseases division, said: 'Antibiotics usage must be carefully gauged and monitored. Every doctor has a moral responsibility to ensure the drugs are not unnecessarily used.'

A microbiologist at Princess Margaret Hospital, Dr Ng Tak-keung, said although VRE was not as virulent as another superbug - vancomycin resistant staphylococcus aureus - it affected patients who were severely ill with depressed immune systems.

'I think every public hospital is concerned,' he said. 'The use of antibiotics plays a role in the emergence of these resistant bugs.'

Reports of VRE first appeared in 1988 in Britain and France. Two cases were detected at Queen Mary Hospital about three years ago, said Professor Yuen. Both patients survived.

Enterococci is an intestinal bacteria that all humans carry. Vancomycin was developed to fight methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus and enterococci. Tuen Mun Hospital said kidney patients had a higher risk of acquiring VRE because of the regular use of antibiotics during dialysis.