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Subscribe to RSSThe Centers for Disease Control has identified deadly 'nightmare' bacteria that's resistant to antibiotics and spreading through the nation's hospitals. NBC's Dr. Nancy Snyderman reports.
There’s more evidence that untreatable or tough-to-treat infections from a rare but deadly superbug are on the rise in U.S. hospitals, ratcheting up concerns about stopping the spread before it gets worse, health officials said Tuesday.
Last year, about 4 percent of U.S. acute-care hospitals and 18 percent of long-term acute care hospitals reported at least one case of dangerous CRE bacteria -- Carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae -- germs resistant to most last-resort antibiotics.
That’s according to new figures released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which analyzed data from about 3,900 U.S. hospitals in the first six months of 2012.
"CRE are nightmare bacteria," CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden told reporters.
Figures may show that CRE are still rare, but analysis from three different data pools revealed a big jump in the infections during the past decade. The percentage of certain bacteria reported to be resistant to carbapenem antibiotics -- often the drugs of last resort -- climbed from 1.2 percent in 2001 to 4.2 percent in 2011, a spike of about 250 percent.
“The message that we’re trying to send is there’s an opportunity here,” the CDC’s Dr. Arjun Srinivasan, associate director for healthcare-associated prevention programs said in an interview before Tuesday's press conference. “It’s an uncommon issue, but it’s concerning. There’s an opportunity to act while it’s still uncommon.”
CREs increased most for the worrisome Klebsiella pneumoniae, jumping from 1.6 percent to 10.4 percent between 2001 and 2011, a rise of 550 percent. That’s the bug that made headlines last summer after reports that it was part of an outbreak that swept through the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center near Washington, D.C., killing seven people, including a 16-year-old boy.
CDC relied on CRE data collected from the National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance System, or NNIS, and its successor, the National Healthcare Safety Network, or NHSN. More data came from another source called the Surveillance Network-USA, known as TSN.
CREs are part of a family of drug-resistant germs that have shown up in growing numbers of U.S. health care settings. They’re named for their ability to fight off carbapenem antibiotics, which have been the big gun drugs used to treat serious infections. CRE infections typically show up in people who’ve been hospitalized frequently, who have been taking antibiotics and who may require devices such as ventilators or catheters.
They often present as hard-to-treat bloodstream or urinary tract infections.
CRE infections tied to Klebsiella now have been detected in 42 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, the CDC reports. That's particularly worrisome because the mortality rate for CRE bloodstream infections can be as high as 50 percent and CRE infections can spread like wildfire through a hospital.
CDC
CDC microbiologist Kitty Anderson holds up a 96-well plate used to test the ability of bacteria to grow in the presence of antibiotics. CDC officials report that Carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae are on the rise in U.S. hospitals.
No one knows exactly how many cases there have been in the U.S. or how many deaths may be tied to CREs, Srinivasan said.
CDC has launched an all-out campaign -- a "detect and protect" strategy to urge hospitals and other health care facilities to be on guard for CREs. The agency issued a health alert last month warning that the number of unusual forms of CRE has nearly doubled since last July. That includes the notorious NDM bug -- New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase -- which produces an enzyme that renders antibiotics virtually useless.
Health care providers should be alert for evidence of CRE in their facilities, CDC says, and act promptly to detect and contain the bug. Patients exposed to the germ should be kept together, away from others. Hospital staff should be vigilant about hand hygiene and exposing patients to potentially contaminated materials. Some states and some sites have better systems in place to catch CREs, including places such as Colorado and Florida, which have had outbreaks and grappled with the problem of stopping them.
“The actions right now are uneven,” Srinivasan said.
Patients worried about catching a CRE infection can take certain precautions, too, he suggested. Risk may be higher in people who are hospitalized frequently or who are transferred from one type of hospital to another. For instance, someone who suffers a stroke may be treated at an acute-care hospital, but then transferred for longer-term critical care at another site.
Patients or family members should ask about the risk of CRE, especially in people who require ventilators or catheters or those who show signs of infection, such as a fever. Check with the staff about the steps they take to prevent hospital-acquired infections, Srinivasan said.
“Ask: What are you doing to keep me safe from CRE?” he suggested.
Related stories:
- Reports of rare superbug jump in the US, CDC says
- Superbug kills 7th patient at NIH hospital in Maryland
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This reminds me of the saying, "Show me a ten foot wall, and I'll show you a ten foot ladder."
This is nature. Organisms that do not adapt go extinct, bacteria included. They're merely using genetic mutations to survive, just as we try to use antibiotics to defeat them.
I had a conversation the other day, about how far the human immune system has evolved over time. I was wondering if "mild colds" we suffer from in our lives would have ravaged an older population of us, as our "mild ailments" are the "superbugs" of the past. It's rather fascinating to think about sometimes.
At the moment the bug is mostly found in hospitals, and some simple logic leads to the conclusion that we should avoid hospitals.
Got one word for that, bleach. Bleach will kill everything except a scorpion and it is well known that scorpions do not like hospitals. Next problem.
CDC Just the Facts backed by Truth.
Fact. Deuteronomy 28:1-68 in the light of the World's lifestyle.
Cure, Basic Principle Righteousness
IN the Name of HYH IAM
Hospital staff are not smart enough to do the right thing, were all doomed if that is what you are counting on.
The brutal truth is that we are overpopulating the planet and this is natures cure for that. By the way, NDM is a gene not a virus. It turns ordinary germs into "superbugs". What thecrud said is partly true, hospital staff are playing catch up but the reason for it is being understaffed and overworked, not a lack of intelligence.
I agree. Often times these "bugs" fulminate in weak host. Often these are what is called futility cases. If we ( and I'm thinking only the democrats can do it. If the republicans tried to enforce futility laws, they would be branded as anti old, anti poor, anti minority, whatever and be sunk before it starts. Democrats have an edge there that they may do this and only have the death panel argument to deal with. That has not been a big hurdle to overcome AEB last election) escalate care to those patients with a certain set mortality score, that would eliminate many host. Not to mention save billions.
I would hope that someone at the CDC and WHO are on top of this growing threat. This is exactly where our tax dollars need to be spent not on some Congressman's/woman's 'bridge to nowhere.'
Another issue is always "profitability" as it concerns the drug companies and their bottom lines. It has been reported that they won't put any money into ANY research and development if the profit isn't there. And that might be Capitalism but there won't be any of us peons around to buy their expensive drugs if we're all dead from untreatable diseases. I believe our government should, and needs, to boost spending on all bacterial and viral research. Not just the 'exotic' militarized stuff. If they find cures to these bacterial infections then the American People should benefit DIRECTLY through inexpensive treatment and by any profit made from the development of any drug and then marketed worldwide.
Another part of the problem is the over use of antibiotics. Not only do the bacteria in your body built up a resistance, but you pass these antibiotics into the water system (albeit diluted) as you excrete them.
You have to wonder if getting all the antibiotics out of our meat and dairy supply would also help in many ways.
There shouldn't be any antibiotics in our meat and dairy supply to begin with because animals are not to be milked or slaughtered after treatment until they have passed a mandatory waiting time that allows for the drug to be metabolized and excreted.
The over use by factory farms of antibiotics in animals and doctors giving out antibiotics willy-nilly has had an affect on us. It looks like we need to search out naturals that still work like oil of oregano ,olive leaf extract and the like.
Can you list which factory farms use Carbapenem? I can. None of them. Absolutely no food animal in America gets Carbapenem. Most antimicrobials used on farms are penicillin and tetracycline. These are not the big guns used in human medicine. Also, how many Carbapenem resistant infections have come from farms or food from farms? Again none. They're coming from hospitals. What does that tell you? Maybe do a little research before shooting off your mouth about things you do not understand next time.
I did not single out that antibiotic, It is ALL the antibiotics that are haunting us. My statement is NOT shooting my mouth off ,read slower next time.
Unfortunately, like the lady in California's retirement center who died from a lack of CPR being provided, despite her not having a DNR Order, it's impossible to know the accuracy of In Vitro results, much less In Vivo results without the new Scientific Standards Diagnostic, part of the Unifcation Science Upgrades that Guarantee To Eliminate The Deficit In 12 Months, as was proven after the prototypes eliminated Social Security's deficit for the first time-ever in the 1980s.....we know that anyone with a valid High School Diploma (or honestly seeking one) will take and distribute the exam at www.prlog.org/10439874 and that all others are suspect and the certain causes of the deficit (and Public Health and Safety decay at 3x+ proper-function's rates)...the ones in worse need for quarantine and prohibition from availability to these biotoxins (and positions that are "the only source for antibiotics") than any of those who've died from the antiobiotics-denied-results!!!! RCCFM: Always(c): Dr. Eric USRecovery@gmail.com
I'm not sure that made any sense at all...
There isn't anything in the article that says there is an "increase" in Alzeimer's above what would be expected due to people living longer thanks to advances in medical science and some improvement in life styles.
So I wouldn't be too quick to attribute an increase to any other factor.
Sounds like going to the hospital is dangerous. In fact, statistics show that hospitals and doctors kill more people each year than crazed killers with semi-automatic weapons. But of course, the government isn't going to do anything about that. Obamacare will actually worsen that statistic and stopping those deaths won't disarm a population and make them vulnerable to tyranny...
my guess is that from all the people who like to live in the hospital, whether they're hypochondriacs or homeless, they either expose others to pathogens or become its carriers, symptomatic or not. i prefer to stay away from hospitals, but even if i needed to go, it'd be because i was gonna die anyway. i have seen some truly nasty people who have not bathed or showered in months and the only water ever hitting them is rain or snow. these people need to be gathered up and hit with TONS of the strongest germicidal, fungicidal and maybe perhaps even other potent types of decontaminants anyone can imagine. failing that, they just need to be locked up for not giving a @!$%# about themselves or others, especially the others part.
What this article fails to inform the world on is what the TRUE cause of such "Superbugs" are. We live in a selfserving society, one where "dead people" have to be kept alive at ANY COST. Because dying with dignity is not good enough or acceptable. Physicians and hospital staff are forced to keep people alive on ventilators, dialysis machines, artifical feedings ect.., yet a persons mile long medical History is conveniently ignored by decision makers. The prognosis would warrent removal from Lifesupport yet family members REFUSE, over and over and over again.(Because it is FREE , NO MONETARY CONTRIBUTION REQUIRED FOR FUTILE TREATMENTS from families with unreasonable expectations). Now the healthcare staff is forced to continue futile Treatments, long term ventilation, dialysis, TPN and numerous IV antibiotics to counteract persistent infections, yet cultivating Bacteria on a "Live" medium! The human body in its weakend, immunecompromised state becomes the perfect breeding ground for countless strains of bacteria. Bacteria feed on the slow break down of the body and Resistent strains are the result.
I believe, as a society, we have an obligation torward future generations to preserve life but to stop FUTILE treatments and ALLOW NATURE to take its course. MAN-MADE SUPERBUGS MAY KILL LITTLE CHILDREN because we cultivated them out of pure selfserving motives.
Yes as another one posted above...It CAN be a dangerous/deadly trip to the hospital!!! If avoidable do not go cuz I've heard stories which at the 1st & 2nd times I didnt quite beleive but are very true!!!! Cant go into them now but be aware of your local hospital, they over treat or what ever it is is that they do & then...Your dead!?!?!?!
Just be careful people!!!