CDC warns against ‘lethal’ superbug
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is warning of a deadly bacterium that is resistant to virtually all antibiotics. The carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) bacterium is from a family of bacteria normally found in the human digestive system. However, many of these bugs have become resistant to antibiotics in recent years, which can cause serious infections that are nearly impossible to treat.
According to the report, CREs are most commonly found in patients at “hospitals, long-term acute care facilities and nursing homes.” The report states that while the bugs are not common, their incidences “have increased from 1 percent to 4 percent in the past decade. One type of CRE has spiked from 2 percent to 10 percent.”
What makes this bacterium so dangerous is that CRE kill “up to half of patients who get bloodstream infections from them.” The report makes detailed recommendations for medical facilities to help prevent the spread of CRE in their facilities, including:
- Staying aware of CRE rates at your facility
- Following infection control recommendations with every patient
- Prescribing antibiotics judiciously
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health enews staff is a group of experienced writers from our Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care sites, which also includes freelance or intern writers.
As a public health worker I am very interested in these types of articles. Thanks for posting!
This is scary….. and not-at-all surprising. Doctors pass out antibiotics like water during a marathon on a hot day almost as much as the uneducated patients (and worse, the parents of young patients) demand them! More people must be educated about the long-term effects of antibiotics! We must stop being vicitms of ill health in general (we've almost elevated it to a status, a reward, or a means of getting attention!!! Collecting unemployment because you're obese!?! SERIOUSLY?!), and instead look at strength of mind, body and soul as something to be rewarded and honored instead of ignored or judged with jealousy. Let's attend our own body's ability to heal itself in it's own time, instead of panicking at the slightest fever or infection and running to the doctor, demanding antibiotics that will destroy our ability to heal ourselves at all later in life. Otherwise we're going to continue to hear about more and more of these suberbug hybrids that cannot be destroyed by antibiotics anymore, much less our own weakened immune systems. Hence, the article above.
Thanks for reading my rant.
Thank you both for your comments! I agree–it's frightening to see increase in antibiotic-resistant germs, and really disheartening to read "nearly impossible to treat."