The Environmental Protection Agency recently announced the detection of a lethal superbug in a California sewage plant. This superbug strain has been tied to outbreaks at two Los Angeles hospitals and the University of California at Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Researchers assert the failure of sewage plants to eliminate dangerous bacteria like carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae could lead to water contamination, putting communities of beach goers at risk of infection.
The problem is not limited to California. CRE thrives in water, and EPA scientists have reported the discovery of CRE extant in sewage treatment plants across the country.
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Pedro Alvarez, PhD, a professor of environmental engineering at Rice University in Houston, described sewage plants as "luxury hotels" for drug-resistant bacteria in the LA Times. "Chlorine is just not doing it," said Dr. Alvarez of the treatment utilized by most plants.
Hospitals release millions of gallons of raw sewage every day, and it's perfectly legal if that sewage contains CRE. While there are laws regulating the cumulative level of disease-causing bacteria in surface water, there is no such legal mandate regarding the potential presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the same water.
In the LA Times, Mellissa Brower, a public affairs officer for the CDC, said, "The prevention and control of CRE is an evolving process...CDC will continue to assess the appropriateness of this as new information becomes available."
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