Strong Soap May Help Bacteria Adapt Expert Fears Development Of Drug-Resistant Organisms

People striving to sterilize their homes and hands with anti-bacterial soaps may be fueling the development of dangerous organisms that defy known drugs, an authority on drug-resistant strains said on Friday.

Dr. Stuart Levy of Tufts University, president of the Alliance for Prudent Use of Antibiotics, said Friday the popularity of disinfectant cleaners could not come at a worse time - an era when hospitals are discharging patients earlier to complete their recoveries at home.

He warned that patients may soon be coming home to environments rife with organisms that will resist conventional drugs.

“To me, this is one of the most important new movements afoot that challenges our ability to fight infection,” said Levy, speaking to a conference of science writers sponsored by the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.

“My concern is that it’s going to alter the environment, make it worse for the patients who enter the home.”

He said people should use basic soaps to clean their floors, dishes and hands in almost all cases, reserving anti-bacterial cleaners for times when they wish to protect sick family members and those around them.

“Use plain old-fashioned soaps,” Levy said. “They do 90 percent of what we want them to do.”

Dr. David Hooper, an infectious disease specialist at Massachusetts General, agreed the anti-bacterial soaps are overused. “In the vast majority of circumstances,” he said, “it’s unnecessary use.”

Levy said he has no evidence that drug-resistant organisms have yet evolved in households as a direct result of anti-bacterials. But he said it is almost assured, considering the proliferation of drug-resistant bacteria that has stemmed from society’s overdependence upon antibiotics.

Concerns grew this week amid reports that a tough, new strain of the bacterium, staphylococcus aureus, had appeared in Japanese hospitals.