Travelers to the Tropics are More Prone to Acquiring Superbacteria than Previously Thought

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Travelers to the tropics are more prone to acquiring superbacteria than previously thought:

Exploring exposure to superbacteria, researchers at the University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital got unexpected results from an international collaborative study conducted in real time among 20 travelers to Southeast Asia. All the participants were found to contract superbacteria within a week after arriving in the destination. A detailed sequence analysis showed that the traveler group acquired a variety of superbacteria comprising over 80 different strains altogether.

Before the corona pandemic, tens of millions international travelers annually headed to the tropics, getting exposed to local intestinal bacteria. A total of 20-70% of those returning from the tropics carry - for the most unknowingly - ESBL[*]-producing bacteria resistant to multiple antibiotics. The likelihood of acquiring such superbacteria depends on destination and health behavior abroad. The risk is greatest in South and Southeast Asia, and a substantial increase is associated with contracting travelers' diarrhea and taking antibiotics while abroad.

An investigation led by professor of Infectious diseases Anu Kantele at Helsinki University together with MD Esther Kuenzli from Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute involved a real-time scrutiny of superbacteria acquisition among a group of 20 Europeans over a three-week visit to Laos. The participants' daily stool samples were initially screened on site in Vientiane, Laos, and later, in Europe, the superbacteria strains isolated were analyzed in detail by whole-genome sequencing.

[...] In Laos, daily stool samples from the participants were analyzed locally in the Lao-Oxford-Mahosot Hospital-Wellcome Trust -Research laboratory. Had samples only been collected before and after travel, the proportion of superbacteria carriers had been approximately 70%. Daily real-time scrutiny already while abroad revealed, however, that all travelers had contracted a superbacter within a week after arrival.

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