Antibacterial cleaning and hygiene products as an emerging risk factor for antibiotic resistance in the community.

Aiello and Larson review the burden of antibiotic resistance and known risk factors within the community setting. Their concerns stem from observations that patients are increasingly being admitted to hospital with antibiotic resistant infections, for whom there is no obvious explanation as to why or how they acquired it (e.g. no previous hospitalisation). They examine the proposition that this trend may relate to increased use of antibacterial cleaning and hygiene products in the home, which could be encouraging the emergence of antibiotic resistant strains. Lancet Infect Dis 2003;3:501-6.