Heartburn pills taken by millions of people in Britain may treble the risk of potentially deadly infections, a study has shown.
Patients on proton pump inhibitors, among the most widely prescribed medicines on the NHS, were more likely to fall ill with dangerous organisms like E. coli.
Researchers think the drugs could be allowing harmful organisms to spread by reducing levels of stomach acid that normally kills them.
In England alone, GPs dish out an estimated 55 million prescriptions a year for the tablets.
The drugs, including brands like Zanprol, Prevacid and Prilosec, are also available over-the-counter in lower doses.
Proton pump inhibitors, such as Zanprol (pictured), are among the most widely prescribed medicines on the NHS
They work by suppressing the release of acid by cells, called proton pumps, in the stomach lining.
Microbiologists at Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust studied 126 hospital patients sick with drug resistant bugs called ESBL-enterobacteriae.
These are bugs, like E. coli, that occur naturally in the bowel, where they do no harm.
But if they escape to other parts of the body – such as the lungs, urinary tract or blood – they can be life-threatening.
ESBL-bugs do not respond to commonly-used antibiotics, like penicillin, and infections caused by them are becoming increasingly common in Britain.
Patients were quizzed on whether they had taken heartburn medicines in the previous six months.
The results, in the Journal of Hospital Infection, found infected patients were three times more likely to have taken PPIs than a group of 126 healthy volunteers.
In a report on the findings scientists said: ‘PPIs are widely overprescribed and heavily promoted by the pharmaceutical industry.
‘This is the first time this risk factor has been identified in a UK hospital population, and the magnitude is greater than in previous community-based studies.
The drugs, including brands like Zanprol, Prevacid (pictured) and Prilosec, are also available over-the-counter in lower doses
‘Reducing inappropriate use of PPIs may reduce transmission.’
Several studies in recent years have linked over-use of PPIs with stomach cancer, stroke and even reduced sperm count in men.
Although PPIs should only be taken for a maximum of four weeks, it’s feared millions stay on them for years.
Research shows one in four patients are still taking them after a year and four per cent after five years.
Less than half those taking them long-term are advised to try to come off them by doctors.
Dr Richard Cunningham, a consultant microbiologist who led the study at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, was one of the first experts to highlight a link between PPIs and another lethal bug – C. difficile – nearly 15 years ago.
C. difficile strikes 13,000 people a year in England, causing diarrhoea, and stomach cramps — and killing approximately one in ten affected.
In 2014, the US Food and Drug Administration ordered drug firms to print a warning on packs to patients that PPIs increased the risk of the bug.
Dr Cunningham said: ‘It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the message to spread.
‘It took years for the link between PPIs and C. difficile to become accepted. Hopefully the medical profession will be primed to take this more seriously.’