There have been many reports that a virulent strain of the ‘superbug’ C difficile has killed 49 people in Leicester hospitals this year.

This is relevant to the well-worn antivivisection mantra ‘pencillin is a useful antibiotic for people but kills guinea pigs’. Partially true, but the devil is in the detail which they don’t tell you.

In fact, early studies showed that ‘good’ bacteria normally present in the guinea-pig intestine are sensitive to penicillin. So, after penicillin, all these bacteria disappear and are replaced by greater numbers of some types of ‘bad’ bacteria – eg Clostridium difficile. This can lead to absorption of toxins and may cause death from blood poisoning. It seems that guinea pigs, far from being strikingly different from humans, are in fact very similar and provided a clear warning that penicillin could cause colitis or worse in vulnerable patients on long-term penicillin.  More information on the RDS website.