According to a recent CDC report, a particularly dangerous set of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae strains is cause for public health concern in the U.S.
"Among CRE, strains that carry plasmid-encoded carbapenemase enzymes that inactivate carbapenem antibiotics are of greatest public health concern because of their potential for rapid global dissemination," according to the report. "Newly described resistance in Enterobacteriaceae…highlight[s] the continued urgency to delay spread of CRE."
The strains have been named the "phantom menace" by some scientists. Highlighted below are five more things to know about these strains from the report.
1. The CDC received reports of 52 CRE isolates that produce OXA-48-like carbapenemases from 43 patients in 19 states from June 2010 to August 2015.
2. Of the 52 isolates, seven were identified retrospectively from six patients. Eight isolates from four patients were part of two different clusters in the United States during 2014.
3. The number of patients from whom CRE isolates producing OXA-48-like carbapenemases were identified ranged from one in 2010 to 11 per year in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
4. CRE producing OXA-48-like carbapenemases can spread in other countries and cause outbreaks in healthcare settings. Factors potentially contributing to the spread of these organisms include the high transfer efficiency of the plasmid containing OXA-48-like genes and challenges in identifying these organisms.
5. According to a Washington Post graphic created from the CDC data, California and Illinois had the most cases of the "phantom menace" superbug between June 2010 and August 2015, with eight or more cases each.
For the full CDC report, click here.
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