The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, simply known as APIC, has announced that it has put together an extensive summary of states that have a statewide issue with carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), also known as the 'superbug.' The Center of Disease Control and Prevention has placed this 'superbug' in the urgent category in its newly released Antibiotics Resistance Threats Report. The report can be viewed on the CDC website.
The CDC report states that untreatable and hard-to-treat infections from CRE are on the rise in patients across the United States. So far forty-four states have confirmed cases. CRE has over time become resistant to almost all of the available antibiotics on the market. Moreover, CRE can transfer their resistance from one organism to another. Reports show that close to half of all patients who get bloodstream infections related to CRE die from these infections.
To date eleven states have reported cases of CRE. The APIC new report breaks down how each state is handling the defining, tracking and reporting of this “superbug.” The CDC states that tracking the spread of antibiotic-resistant infections is vital to combat the health threat they cause. In their report the CDC estimates that, here in the United States, over two million people are victims of an antibiotic-resistant infection and around 23,000 of them die as a result.
CRE was found in 1.2 percent of hospitals in the country in 2001. By 2011 and the first six months of 2012, it was found in 4.6 percent of acute care hospitals. In long-term care hospitals, the numbers have reached 18 percent. In all, CRE has been discovered in hospitals in 42 states.
After announcing the report’s release, Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC, said had this to say in a media briefing: “For the whole pathway, we need to address from farm to table. And that at various different steps, there are things that can be done to increase or decrease the likelihood of infections generally and resistant infections specifically. We also know that there are specific situations in which the widespread use of antimicrobials in agriculture has resulted in an increase in resistant infections in humans.”
“Right now the really most acute problem is in hospitals. And the most resistant organisms in hospitals are emerging in those settings, because of poor antimicrobial stewardship among humans,” he added.
The mission of the APIC is to aid in creating a safer environment through infection prevention.
If you are interested in more information on what patients and their families can do, visit the APIC's Infection Prevention and You website.
Edited by
Blaise McNamee
