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Stories about "doomsday killer bugs": the aftermath
EDITOR,--A recent television programme (Panorama, "Superbugs," BBC1, 15 Jan) reported the increase in British hospitals in bacteria that are resistant to multiple antibiotics, specifically methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin resistant enterococcus. The programme, although mostly factually correct, created a sinister, doom laden image of superbugs on the rampage. This was achieved by the use of low lighting of interview sets, scenes of ambulance drivers wearing face masks with visors, and an unbalanced content. Experts talked of the war against resistant bacteria being lost, of the end of the antibiotic era, and of some hospitals concealing the presence of resistant bacteria in their wards. One scene was particularly distressing and misleading: an elderly woman who had become colonised with methicillin resistant S aureus was effectively quarantined by her own family, with her grandchildren forbidden to touch her.
The Tuesday after the broadcast our department began to receive inquiries related to
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BMJ 1996 312: 1362.[Extract] [Full Text]
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