The emergence of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia

doi:10.1136/bmj.a226

BMJ 2008;336:1322 (14 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.a226

Editorials

The emergence of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia

Superbug or opportunist?

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The recent publication of the genome sequence of the bacteriumStenotrophomonas maltophilia was accompanied by a press statementthat described this organism as a "newly emerging superbug."¹² This was followed by a flurry of headlines in the United Kingdominforming the public of problems related to S maltophilia, suchas the apparent "rising death toll fear in hospitals" (DailyMirror) and the concern of doctors that "no antibiotics canstop it" (the Sun). Suddenly, the public had a new superbug(or even "mega-bug", as it was referred to in the Sun) to worryabout.

So, what must a bacterium do to earn "superbug" status? Oneprerequisite is resistance to multiple antibiotics and the associateddifficulty in treating infections. Using this criterion, S maltophiliais a strong candidate because it is inherently resistant toa wide range of antibiotics and can become more resistant bythe . . . [Full text of this article]

Alan P Johnson, clinical scientist, Georgia J Duckworth, director

¹ Department of Healthcare-Associated Infection and Antimicrobial Resistance, Health Protection Agency Centre for Infections, London NW9 5EQ

alan.johnson@hpa.org.uk