RIYADH – The Kingdom and five other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states are facing a rapid growth in superbugs due to the overuse of antibiotics, poor hand-hygiene in hospitals and medical tourism, according to University of Queensland researchers. UQ Center for Clinical Research PhD candidate Hosam Mamoon Zowawi and his advisor Professor David Paterson have collaborated with international researchers to lead the first systematic literature review of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the GCC states of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain. The study found a particular strain of potentially deadly superbugs – carbapenem-resistant bacteria, which kills up to half of infected patients – has increased up to 90 percent over the past two decades. Zowawi said the study identified unique risk factors that could have contributed to the rise and spread of hospital- and community-acquired infections across the GCC states, with the unnecessary use of antibiotics standing out as a particular risk. “Superbugs are born and grow from the irrational use of antibiotics and it's clear from our research that active guidelines must be implemented to restrict their use in the GCC region,” Zowawi said. “Although non-prescription sales of antibiotics are illegal in the GCC states, 68 percent of pharmacies in Abu Dhabi, 78 percent in Riyadh and 87 out of 88 pharmacies included in a study in Saudi Arabia had sold antibiotics to patients unnecessarily and/or without a prescription. Furthermore, 75 percent of patients who received antibiotic treatment in the intensive care unit of a Qatar hospital in 2004 did not have a microbiologically-proven infection,” the research said. Researchers also found that poor hand-hygiene compliance in hospitals and the region's large population of migrant workers could have contributed to the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Zowawi, who received a full scholarship from the government of Saudi Arabia to pursue PhD studies at the UQ Center for Clinical Research, said intervention methods are needed to combat the medical disaster facing the GCC states. Professor Paterson, who leads the Centre for Clinical Research Infection and Immunity group, said Zowawi is working with multiple laboratories and companies to design, test and validate innovative diagnostic tests for rapidly identifying antibiotic-resistance in bacteria. “We have developed the first GCC-wide network of collaborating hospitals and institutes to study superbugs in the region, which we hope will expand toward developing an ongoing surveillance project for antibiotic-resistant bacteria,” Professor Paterson said. “Better diagnostic methods, in conjunction with up-to-date regional surveillance data, would improve the targeted use of antibiotics for physicians and could save lives by helping microbiologists track outbreaks around the world,” he said.
