Superbug spreading patient to patient The Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) bacteria in a high magnification. A DRUG-resistant superbug present in Australia has for the first time been proven to spread from person to person. Until now it was believed the bacteria was spread by contaminated water or in hospitals by poorly cleaned medical equipment. British researchers investigated an outbreak of the common multidrug-resistant notuberculous mycobacterium among cystic fibrosis patients at a treatment centre by comparing the DNA of the bacteria infecting each patient. The study, led by Cambridge University, found the DNA was so closely matched that patient-to-patient transmission was the cause, despite stringent infection-control measures at the facility. The organism causes progressive lung damage and is extremely difficult to treat. The researchers findings raised serious questions about how patients being treated for other diseases could infect each other and how effective were hospital-infection control measures around the world. The study did not discover how patients infected other patients but speculated it could have been from "hair, clothing, and bedding contamination or aerosol-generating procedures such as lung function testing." Drug-resistant superbugs are one of the world's most pressing medical problems.