Superbug reports spark concern Ken Montgomery is in the Austin Hospital recovering from a superbug that made him very ill after a routine prostate biopsy. Healthy Australian men are falling ill with superbug infections after prostate biopsies, and doctors fear the bacteria is coming from contaminated food. In a worrying trend, head of infectious diseases at the Austin Hospital, Professor Lindsay Grayson, said there had been increasing reports of men suffering serious infections after prostate biopsies because of the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. While superbugs have been found in hospitals, Professor Grayson said he was particularly concerned about the possibility of meat, poultry and seafood containing superbugs because of the widespread use of antibiotics in farming, particularly outside of Australia. It is also possible antibiotics in waterways are contaminating food with drug residues or superbugs. The infections have mostly occurred in recent travellers to regions where these superbugs are more prevalent, such as Asia and India. Some who haven infected had not travelled. Tests in China have also found waterways contaminated with animal manure have antibiotics and superbugs in them. One Melbourne man, Ken Montgomery, 58, was shocked to learn last week that he had picked up a superbug that most likely came from food. The IT specialist fell ill with a blood infection one day after having a prostate biopsy to check for cancer. While the test showed he was cancer-free, Mr Montgomery said he became the sickest he had ever felt with vomiting and chills about 36 hours later. He went to the Austin emergency department where blood tests showed he had a blood infection caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The superbug had crossed from his bowel into his blood during the prostate biopsy which pierces the rectum wall. While doctors believe they have an antibiotic to treat him, he now requires six weeks of the expensive intravenous drug. Before last week, Mr Montgomery had never been to hospital. It was quite scary. I don't want to be dramatic but there was a period of time there when it was unknown if we had the right antibiotics for me to recover or to fix it," he said. You don't expect this to happen to you. Professor Grayson said without an antibiotic to treat the infection, Mr Montgomery would have died within days. Microbiologists and infectious disease experts are calling for more testing and surveillance of animals and food because there are universal fears that the world is headed for a post-antibiotic era where infections cannot be treated because of multi-drug resistance. Resistance is caused by inappropriate use of antibiotics because the more they are used, the more chances bacteria have to adapt and become resistant to them. In submissions to a current Senate inquiry into the issue, microbiologists and infectious disease experts have called for a reassessment of Australian farming practices to ensure appropriate antibiotic use is occurring and more rigorous screening of imported foods for both superbugs and antibiotic residues. Last week, the inquiry heard 341 tests on fresh seafood imported from Vietnam to Australia in 2012 found about 4 per cent had antibiotics in them that are not permitted to be in food under Australian law. Professor Grayson said if Australians were consuming such food, they could be carrying superbugs in their bowels that can cause illness in particular circumstances such as after a prostate biopsy or through urinary tract infections. A federal government spokesman said a committee had been set up to look at the issue.