Pharmaceutical researchers are having a hard time keeping ahead of the most aggressive antibiotic resistant strains now threatening humans. Along with other resistant strains, the carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) infections are quickly increasing in numbers.
This family of bacteria is problematic for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, it is resistant to nearly all known antibiotics and combination treatments attempted over the last decade. Occurring most often in hospital settings, this microbe infects patients, causing a potentially lethal infection.
In addition to being resistant to even the most aggressive antibiotics, this group of nightmare microbes can easily increase antibiotic resistance in other bacteria in the environment. If the resistance is widely spread to bacteria such as pathogenic E. coli (the bacteria responsible for common urinary tract infections) the results could be monumentally catastrophic.
Currently a number of treatments are most often linked to CRE. These include:
- Urinary (bladder) catheters
- Intravenous (vein) catheters
- Ventilators (breathing machines)
- Long courses of certain antibiotics
Most often CRE infections are thought to be spread from person-to-person. For healthcare workers, washing hands thoroughly between patients (even where gloves are used) is vital to mitigating the spread of this serious bacteria strain.
Bacteria can easily be spread while re-gloving. Healthcare workers in a hurry may slip off old gloves and contaminate their hands and then re-contaminate new gloves while putting them on if they do not wash their hands between gloving. In addition, there is some evidence to suggest that some hand sanitizers are ineffective against these bacteria, so rigorous hand washing with soap and water remains the number one way to diminish possible cross-contamination.
Hospitals, nursing homes and residential long-term care facilities are among the top settings currently experiencing increased cases of CRE. Because CRE has a death rate of 50% for the people who become infected with it, the Centers for Disease Control is engaged in a comprehensive plan to document, track and prevent the spread of CRE.
In order to address the concerns of healthcare workers and healthcare leaders across the nation, the CDC has scheduled an informational Internet chat on Monday, March 25th 2013 at 2 PM, ET. The chat will be led by CDC Director Tom Frieden. For more information about CRE or the upcoming medical chat, visit: http://www.cdc.gov/media/dpk/2013/dpk-vs-hai.html.