Super-bugs lurk outside S'pore hospitals

It's an alarming discovery, Super-bugs was found outside S'pore hospitals.

A study by the Communicable Disease Centre (CDC) suggests that drug-resistant bacteria may already be prevalent in the community at large. Based on skin swabs of 1,000 patients at the Accident and Emergency Department in Tan Tock Seng Hospital, more than 1 in 4 were found to carry the "ESBL and MRSA super-bugs" even before they were hospitalised. Some 25 per cent of the patients were found with ESBL, while 1.8 per cent were found with MRSA.

Experts had thought that these super-bugs were confined only to hospitals. Doctors say one reason for the presence of these super-bugs outside a hospital setting could be the misuse of antibiotics.

From next year, the CDC will work with grassroots organisations to collect more samples to determine the prevalence of these super-bugs in the population.