Untreatable Superbugs Are Infecting Newborns; Doctors Warn Antibiotics Are No Longer Working Against These Killer Bacteria

In what comes as a shocking development, it has been observed that deadly superbugs are on the rise in newborn babies. According to a new study, these so-called superbugs can be alarmingly prevalent in newborn babies,

to the point that frontline treatments for sepsis are no longer effective against the majority of these bacterial infections. Researchers focused on Southeast Asia (countries including Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam And the Philippines) for the new study, as they analyzed nearly 15,000 blood samples which were collected from sick infants at 10 hospitals across five regional countries in 2019 and 2020.Most infections involved Gram-negative bacteria, including E. coli, Klebsiella and Acinetobacter - which accounted for nearly 80% of cases. Many of these bacteria were non-susceptible to the first-line antibiotics recommended by the WHO. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) was ominously common among disease-causing bacteria, says study co-author Phoebe Williams, a pediatrician at the University of Sydney. "Our study highlights the causes of serious infections in babies in countries across Southeast Asia with high rates of neonatal sepsis, and reveals an alarming burden of AMR that renders many currently available therapies ineffective for newborns," Williams says."Guidelines must be updated to reflect local bacterial profiles and known resistance patterns," she informed further.

Superbugs In Newborns Is A Global Health Threat

Superbugs in newborn babies are a rapidly growing concern for hospitals and parents, all across the world. The rise of superbugs in newborns is alarming, especially in Southeast Asia. Many infants tend to develop infections within the first 28 days of life, which happens to be a critical period as the immune system is still immature. "These bugs have long been considered to only cause infections in older babies, but are now infecting babies in their first days of life," Williams says.These findings of the alarming study highlights the need for more locally relevant data. This will help doctors in identifying which treatments are most likely to work, the researchers say.