Antibiotic Use By Travelers May Add To Global Spread Of Superbugs

Taking antibiotics for diarrhea may put travelers visiting developing parts of the world at higher risk for contracting superbugs and spreading these daunting drug-resistant bacteria to their home countries, according to a new study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and now available online. The study authors call for greater caution in using antibiotics for travelers’ diarrhea, except in severe cases, as part of broader efforts to fight the growing public health crisis of antibiotic resistance and the spread of highly resistant bacteria worldwide.  “The great majority of all cases of travelers’ diarrhea are mild and resolve on their own,” says lead study author Anu Kantele, MD, PhD, associate professor in infectious diseases at Helsinki University Hospital in Finland.

In the study, researchers collected stool samples for testing from 430 Finns before and after they travelled outside of Scandinavia. The goal: Determine if their guts became colonized by a resistant type of bacteria from the Enterobacteriaceae family that produces a key enzyme, extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL), which confers resistance to many commonly used antibiotics. The researchers looked for risk factors in the travelers’ behavior that may have facilitated colonization by these resistant bacteria. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called ESBL-producing bacteria a serious concern and a significant threat to public health. The bacteria can cause severe infections that are harder and more expensive to treat and more likely to be fatal...