Officials from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have discovered that a new strain of antibiotic-resistant superbug, tagged as CRE, is threatening major cities in America.
According to the CDC, the presence of the Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) germs is most prevalent in many healthcare settings, such as clinics, hospitals and home care facilities, and at least seven areas is already presenting high levels of the infection this year. These areas are found in New York, Atlanta and Baltimore, according to Health Day, while traces of the germs were also found in Albuquerque, Denver, Portland and Minneapolis.
The CDC warns that CRE is a fast-spreading bacteria, with some nine percent deaths due to CRE infection already on the record. The experts are now concerned that because of the nature of the germs, even transmission outside the health care settings could take place one day. Hence, the government agency is putting out a warning on this emerging threat.
"Here we are with an opportunity to intervene on one of these multidrug-resistant organisms just as it's about to emerge and it's still relatively uncommon," said senior CDC medical officer Dr. Alexander Kallen in the Health Day report. "That is the time you want to intervene. It's much easier to control things and prevent the organism from becoming more common when it's rare."
A coordinated effort among hospitals is necessary to lower the risk of the spread of bacteria, especially when transmitting patients from different facilities.
Dubbed the "nightmare bacteria," CRE accelerated its spread two years ago, according to CNN, after seven patients suspected to have caught the bug died at a Los Angeles hospital. The germs evolved from a family of superbugs, the Klebsiella and E. coli, and since its first discovery in 2001, it is growing more and more resistant to antibiotics.
The germs come from stools or infected wounds, which is why hospital workers are most susceptible to the infection. But there is danger when these workers forget to follow protocols, such as the proper washing of hands or the sanitation of instruments and devices used at work. Thus, spread of the bacteria can take place.
"We're seeing more and more patients in the community with an e. coli kidney infection that we have no oral therapy to treat," Dr. Mary Hayden of the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago said via Health Day. "If CRE gets into the community and starts causing regular old urinary tract infections in otherwise healthy people, it will have a significant impact because we don't have agents to treat those things."
