A superbug resistant to last-resort antibiotics may be spreading surreptitiously through hospitals, according to new research recently published in PNAS.
For the study, researchers examined the genetic sequences of 263 Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae extracted from patients across four hospitals to assess the pathogen's infection patterns, according to STAT. In the genetic sequences of the bacteria, researcher discovered strains of CRE that displayed resistance to antibiotics, but was not equipped with the signature genes known to incite drug resistance. In addition to this genetic diversity, researchers found little evidence of patient-to-patient transmission of CRE across the hospitals, suggesting the superbug is spreading in unknown ways.
"While the typical focus has been on treating sick patients with CRE-related infections, our new findings suggest that CRE is spreading beyond the obvious cases of disease," said the study's senior author Bill Hanage, an infectious diseases epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, according to STAT. "We need to look harder for this unobserved transmission within our communities and healthcare facilities if we want to stamp it out."
CRE — previously referred to as "nightmare bacteria" by CDC Director Tom Frieden — cause approximately 9,300 infections a year in the U.S. and 600 deaths. While the bacteria's ability to resist antibiotic treatment varies, the death of a woman in Nevada last week involved a CRE strain resistant to all 26 different antibiotics available in U.S.
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