The new superbug: GRE attacks the very ill and makes MRSA untreatable

GRE attacks the most seriously ill patients - and helps MRSA to thrive in filthy surroundings.

Experts fear this combination could make it the worst superbug yet - and "take over" the Health Service.

GRE can cause wound infections, blood poisoning, and infections of the abdomen, pelvis, bile duct, heart valves or the urinary tract.

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It is more common among patients in intensive care or renal units.

The number of infections has shot up by 50 per cent in just two years.

The hidden danger is that the bug is also resistant to one of the few antibiotics that still works against MRSA.

In the United States contact with GRE has already led MRSA to develop the same resistance, making it harder to treat.

Last night leading microbiologist Professor Hugh Pennington warned the bug could "take us over".

Between October 2005 and September 2006, 903 people contracted the glycopeptide-resistant enterococcal (GRE) bug., according to figures released by the Health Protection Agency. This is up from 628 in 2003/04.

The antibiotic-resistant bug is particularly prevalent in hospital patients whose immune system has been suppressed, either through drugs or diseases.

GRE is a form of the enterococci bacteria, which is found in the bowels.

However, strains of it have formed a resistance to a type of antibiotics called glycopeptides, such as vancomycin and teicoplanin.

Dr Mark Enright of Imperial College, London, said that unless GRE was tackled, it could prompt the spread of even more virulent MRSA that are almost impossible to treat.

"GRE is very resistant to antibiotics, especially vancomycin," he said.

"Vancomycin is the last-ditch antibiotic we use against MRSA.

"We know that at four hospitals in the U.S., vancomycin-resistant strains of MRSA have appeared through contact with GRE.

"It is crucial that MRSA doesn't become resistant to vancomycin because then it would be almost untreatable."

Professor Pennington of Aberdeen University said there was a danger that hospitals will be caught as unawares by GRE as they were by C. Diff.

"There is a lesson there," he said.

"Unless we nip things in the bud by taking aggressive measures sooner rather than later, this thing will take us over and cause us big, big problems.

"GRE is a problem that microbiologists are very concerned about because these bugs are certainly taking off.

"It is getting more common and it's something that we have to take a careful note of."

He said the Government's target culture may be to blame for the shock rise because it means trusts are occupied with other bugs and were letting this one slip under the radar.

"It was very obvious at Maidstone and Stoke Mandeville, which both had big C. Diff outbreaks, that managers were fixated on MRSA because there were government targets there and a lot less to C. Diff because at the time there were no targets."

While GRE is not particularly virulent, it can be difficult to treat because of limitations in the range of antibiotics that can be used against it.

Two are normally used - linezolid and synercid - but some strains of GRE have been found which have developed resistance to these as well.

Because people who contract GRE are usually very unwell - unlike MRSA which can target generally healthy people - it is often impossible to say whether someone died from the bug or from another cause.

The Health Protection Agency says the bug's spread can be controlled by handwashing and cleaning all equipment after use.

And certain antibiotics should be restricted to those who really needed them.