Use of the ‘last hope’ antibiotic colistin - one of the few options left that can save lives when infections have become resistant to all other drugs - has soared in English hospitals, with experts blaming a rise in superbugs.

Prescriptions of colistin, which doctors use when infections stop responding to all other antibiotics, rose by 40% between 2014 and 2015, show figures obtained by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

It is a clear indication that multi-drug-resistant superbugs are becoming more and more common, say medical experts. But the increased usage of colistin means it’s only a matter of time before it stops working too - which would have dire consequences for human health.

Colistin is so important that regulators around the world have recommended its usage on animals be slashed, because overuse of antibiotics in agriculture is one of the prime ways bacteria develop resistance to the drugs. Yet the Bureau has learnt the government licensed three new colistin products for use on British farms last year.

Such a move was “sheer, utter madness”, said Professor Timothy Walsh, one of the scientists who originally discovered colistin resistance.

Colistin resistance has already been detected in various parts of the world - in one recent case, a 70-year-old woman died from septic shock in Nevada, after tests showed 26 antibiotics - including colistin - could not have stemmed her bloodstream infection.



Resistance will spread "as sure as eggs is eggs"

Such resistance is still extremely rare; however if current prescription rates continue then colistin resistance will spread in England “as sure as eggs is eggs,” said Dr Michael Weinbren, a consultant in infectious diseases and infection prevention and control at Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. “You’ve got to be terrified and we need to be doing something about this,” he warned.