The majority of carbapenem-resistant gram-negative infections in the U.S. are caused by Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria, according to a study published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.
Researchers used the Premier Healthcare Database to identify hospitalized patients with infections due to four CR gram-negative bacteria species:
● Acinetobacter baumannii
● Pseudomonas aeruginosa
● Klebsiella pneumoniae
● Escherichia coli
From 2009 to 2013, 4.5 percent (13,262) of 292,742 infections due to the aforementioned gram-negative pathogens were carbapenem-resistant.
Of these CR infections, 82.3 percent were caused by A. baumannii (22 percent) or P. aeruginosa (60.3 percent). K. pneumoniae or E. coli caused 17.7 percent.
The crude all cause in-hospital mortality was greater for most of the CR cohorts compared with the carbapenem-susceptible cohort, especially for A. baumannii infection in blood.