Drug-resistant gut infections are on the rise in Europe

Drug-resistant infections with the "superbug" Clostridium difficile are rising in Europe and are widespread, scientists said on Tuesday, but there are big variations in the way the health authorities monitor them.

In a Europe-wide study, researchers found the incidence of C-difficile infections in hospitals had risen to 4.1 per 10,000 patient days in 2008 from 2.45 per 10,000 patient days in 2005.

"It is clearly on the increase, that's for sure," says Ed Kuijper of Leiden University Medical Center in The Netherlands, who led the study with his colleague Martijn Bauer. "There is also a huge variation of incidence in different European countries - mainly owing to the fact that each country uses its own surveillance system and its own diagnostic tests, so in some countries it is underestimated and in other countries it is overestimated."