March of the 'doomsday bug that may kill millions'.

Byline: Tim Bugler

A DOOMSDAY bug resistant to all antibiotics could wipe out millions of people, a leading Scots scientist warned yesterday.

Aberdeen University consultant microbiologist Dr Ian Gould made his alarming prediction as medics expressed concern at the rising number of infections in Scotland that have developed the ability to resist antibiotics.

More and more bugs are producing 'extended spectrum beta-lactamases' (ESBLs). These enzymes can be produced by bacteria, including E.coli infections, leading to resistance to common drugs and making the illness harder to treat.

Dr Gould said some countries were seeing soaring numbers of cases of ESBLs that were resistant to all antibiotics - and the same could happen in the UK.

He said: 'We are getting as near to a Doomsday bug as we ever thought we would.

'This is focusing our minds increasingly, as there are no new drug candidates in the pipeline for the next decade at least, if not 15 years.' He said in the past few years in Scotland the proportion of cases of ESBLs associated with infections such as E.coli had risen from zero to 20 per cent.

He added: 'If you go to India, it is virtually 100 per cent now. That is what we want to avoid.' His comments come ahead of the World Healthcare Associated Infection Forum, taking place in Paris this week.

Dr Gould said the situation with ESBLs mirrored that with the MRSA superbug five years ago, when few new treatments existed. He said: 'There are no new drugs and people are getting pretty worried.

'We have had two or three new drugs for MRSA, which is at least making the clinical issues a bit easier to deal with, even if we are still struggling to control it in hospitals in terms of it spreading.

'With the ESBLs, it seems the organisms are proving even more adept than MRSA at developing resistance.' Dr Gould said ESBLs were able to destroy all the commonly used antibiotics in hospitals.