HOSPITAL

patients are being given antibiotics for twice as long as usual to protect them from deadly infections.

Abdominal infections after surgery are the leading cause of sepsis – and one patient in ten does not survive.

Usually, patients are given short courses of antibiotics to combat antibiotic resistance. But in one in five cases, the antibiotics fail to eradicate the bacteria, potentially resulting in sepsis.

Doctors at Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust will give patients antibiotics for 28 days and compare their outcomes to another group on standard treatment.

Co-investigator Dr Andrew Kirby said: ‘We want to see if a longer, fixed course cures more people and saves lives.’