A scientist holds a plate testing for antibiotic resistance in Klebsiella bacteria with a mutation called NDM-1. Labs are on the lookout for the hard-to-treat hospital infections. (Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters)
Untreatable and increasingly resistant bacteria infected four per cent of patients in U.S. hospitals , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in issuing a call to action for healthcare workers to stop further spread. The bacteria, called Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), kill up to half of patients who get bloodstream infections from them. Most CRE infections occur in people in hospital, long-term care facilities or nursing homes, where they remain uncommon, CDC said Tuesday. “CRE are nightmare bacteria,” CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden, told reporters. The Enterobacteriaceae includes more than 70 species that normally live in the human digestive system, such as E. coli. If those bacteria get into wrong areas of the body such as the blood or bladder, severe infections can occur. Some of these infections are resistant to last-resort antibiotics called carbapenems, the CDC said. Read the full story here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2013/03/05/hospital-infections-cre.html
