Trial tackles hospital infections

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/wales/7717385.stm

Version 0 of 1.

Hospital infections such as C. difficile are to be the target of a £1.2m clinical trial.

Researchers in Swansea and County Durham will tackle the downside of antibiotics given to elderly patients, which can lead to diarrhoea.

The three-year study will examine whether supplements of healthy bacteria - probiotics - can help.

Around 3,000 patients will take part in the trial at five hospitals during the next three years.

Some will be given probiotics, while others will be given dummy capsules in the control to the experiment.

A third of elderly people admitted to hospital are given antibiotics.

But despite their many positive benefits, antibiotics can also change the "healthy" bacteria that naturally lives in the gut.

This can lead to antibiotic-associated diarrhoea (AAD) and occasionally the more serious clostridium difficile diarrhoea (CDD) .

Antibiotics currently result in the problem in a fifth of patients, in effect more than 6% of all older people admitted to hospital.

The study is being run by Swansea University's School of Medicine and health trusts in Swansea and County Durham.

Lead researcher Stephen Allen of Swansea University said: "We are planning to include a large number of patients admitted to different types of wards in five different hospitals in two very different NHS regions.Trust consultant Dr Wyn Harris explains the trial to a patient

"Our findings should help doctors working throughout the NHS to decide whether or not probiotics should be used to combat diarrhoea in those receiving antibiotics."

The five hospitals taking part in the trial are Singleton and Morriston in Swansea, and Darlington Memorial hospital, the University hospital of north Durham and Bishop Auckland general hospital in County Durham.

Over three years, the research team will monitor the occurrence and severity of diarrhoea, as well as quality of life and length of stay in hospital of patients to assess the clinical and cost effectiveness of probiotics.

The Swansea research team believes there is also potential for expanding the studies to other groups at risk of infection, such as children with cystic fibrosis.

The university school of medicine's institute of life science has in recent years looked at probiotics in its research of childhood immunity, particularly immune function in new-born babies.

Delyth Davies, Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University NHS Trust's lead infection control nurse, added that she trust would be "very interested" in the results of the study.

"Whilst the trust makes every effort to minimise the risks associated with CDD, we would welcome any new evidence which indicates that probiotics may help prevent this disease for those hospitalised patients who have been prescribed antibiotics," she said.

The project is funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR).