UK at risk of serious infections from insect bites due to antibiotic resistance, warns ANTRUK

As the UK enjoys a prolonged period of hot and sunny weather, a threat is becoming apparent in the form of serious infection due to horsefly bites, according to the charity, Antibiotic Research UK (ANTRUK).

The numbers of horseflies have risen to the same levels seen in the Mediterranean during this warmer than usual period for the country and with that comes the risk of more bites that can cause painful swellings and potentially infections that may be difficult to treat with existing antibiotics.

“Here is a prime example of why we need to develop new medications fast to keep up with our changing climate and unexpected situations such as a horsefly bite epidemic,” stressed Professor Colin Garner, chief executive of ANTRUK. “We have been warning for some time that our antibiotics are so ineffective that we could reach the situation where people will once again die from an infected scratch or bite. That tragic moment may just have come. I personally got bitten recently by a horsefly and it is very painful. I am self-medicating with creams and an oral antihistamine tablet to ensure the bite site does not become infected.”

Most insect bites are treatable at home with over-the-counter medication as specified on the NHS website. However, horsefly bites can take longer to heal and can become infected, particularly when scratched warned ANTRUK.

If an infection does occur, then it may be necessary to administer broad-spectrum antibiotics. But as more bacteria are becoming resistant to these medicines it is becoming more and more difficult to treat these infections.

“It is entirely possible in 2018 that you can die of an insect bite, not just in some hot foreign clime, but here in Britain,” continued Garner. “We have not invested in the kinds of antibiotics we need to keep up with devious and ever-changing bacterial infections. Now we are in real danger that we could return to a pre-antibiotic past, where dirty wounds, bites and conditions like TB and Typhoid might kill.”

ANTRUK has called for everyone from government to drugs companies, research charities and even a public still intent on demanding on antibiotics from their doctor, to work together to avoid what some experts call, ‘antibiotic resistance, the biggest health problem facing human kind’.