One in 10 children 'carries superbugs'

The testers looked at seven and eight-year-olds

More than 10% of British children are carrying bacteria resistant to at least one antibiotics, research suggests.

Although "superbugs" are a considerable problem in many UK hospitals, little is known about how many resistant strains are circulating in the wider community.

Certainly there are very few recorded cases of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) - one of the best known "superbugs" - outside hospitals and nursing homes.

The study was authored by Dr Michael Millar, from St Bartholomew's and the Royal London School of Medicine.

He looked at samples taken from 539 seven and eight-year-olds in Bristol.

He found that 11% of stool samples contained bacteria such as E.coli resistant to an antibiotic called chloramphenicol.

A lesser number harboured bacteria that were resistant even to an antibiotic called ceftazidime, which is normally used to treat cystic fibrosis patients to protect them from lung infections.

Ways of reducing this resistance must focus on the amount of antibiotics to which the population as a whole are exposed

Public Health Laboratory Service spokesman

Surprisingly, many of the children were carrying bacteria resistant to drugs they had never even been given.

This suggests that such resistant strains are circulating widely in the community.

However, another possibility suggested by the researchers is that resistance to common antibiotics such as ampicillin also encouraged some resistance to the less frequently-used drug.

Bacteria can be passed easily from person to person, or from animals to people.

Most never cause illness unless they are present in an injury or surgical wound, or unless the patient's immune system is weak.

Dr Millar said: "This may just be the beginning of something that will take off in a big way.

Highly-resistant strains

"We need policies to control antibiotic resistance that go across boundaries."

Doctors and vets have been told to stop using antibiotics except where absolutely necessary.

Overuse of antibiotics helps bacteria acquire extra resistance more quickly.

Some highly-resistant strains of bacteria can be treated only with a tiny number of antibiotics.

A spokesman for the Public Health Laboratory Service, which monitors infectious disease in the UK, described it as "very important" research.

She added: "This is an issue which the PHLS is very aware of and on which any new evidence is welcomed.

"The usage of antibiotics is the overall driving factor in the development of resistance.

"Therefore, ways of reducing this resistance must focus on the amount of antibiotics to which the population as a whole are exposed."

The study, which originally appeared in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, was reported in New Scientist magazine.