Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - December 12, 2004
Neither the state nor private healthcare groups know how many people die or fall ill as a result of these antibiotic-resistant bugs.
What is most alarming about these superbugs is that their spread is fuelled by non-adherence by health practitioners to basic hygiene routines such as simple handwashing, the sweeping of hospital floors, or ridding the environment of vermin.
The patients at highest risk are those with compromised immune systems. Given the huge scale of South Africa's HIV and TB epidemics, the infections pose a major threat.
As disturbing is that private hospitals - where large amounts of money are paid in exchange for supposedly superior care - may keep information about superbug infection under wraps
Doctors in these institutions may be guilty of failing to wash their hands properly, or of overseeing careless waste disposal, but are less likely to be pulled into line because they bring in the patients, and the money.
Patients have the right to know the infection rates at hospitals in which they receive treatment. And they should be empowered to start asking questions of doctors and hospitals.
This would not only provide patients with better options about which hospital to choose, but would also put pressure on hospitals - like the one dubbed "Septic City" in Gauteng - to clean up their act.
At the same time, patients also need to take responsibility in the fight against superbugs, a growing threat not only in South Africa but worldwide.
They need to finish their courses of antibiotics as instructed and not put pressure on doctors to give them drugs they do not need.
As a newly released international report highlights, the development of antibiotics is not keeping up with the ability of bacteria to outwit them.
South Africa has started to tackle the problem of antibiotic resistance as a national priority, holding a congress last year on strategies to deal with it.
On a broader level, the government is working on a national policy on infection control. A planned pioneer study next year into the number of hospital-acquired infections in Gauteng is a move in the right direction.
The control of hospital infections should become a priority in South Africa's healthcare planning. The first step is for the health authorities and the private health companies to lift the veil on this menace. They must let consumers know that the threat exists, and tell us how we can all join the fight.
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