Infection Control Today Magazine

Multidrug-Resistant Organisms (MDROS)

Drug-Resistant MRSA Bacteria Here to Stay in Hospital and Community Settings

The drug-resistant bacteria known as MRSA, once confined to hospitals but now widespread in communities, will likely continue to exist in both settings as separate strains, according to a new study. The prediction that both strains will coexist is ...More
March 15, 2013
Posted in News, Hand Hygiene
Learn How Two States Work to Protect Patients from CRE

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has tracked one type of CRE from a single healthcare facility in 2001 to healthcare facilities in at least 42 states. In some places, these bacteria are now encountered routinely and pose a challenge to clinicians. The ...More
March 12, 2013
Posted in News
Experts Say Antibiotic Resistance Has Potential to Undermine Healthcare, Create 'Apocalyptic Scenario'

Antibiotic resistance “has the potential to undermine modern health systems,” argue health economists Richard Smith and Joanna Coast on bmj.com today. They believe that an increase in resistant organisms coupled with a big fall in the number of new antimicrobial drugs ...More
March 11, 2013
Posted in News
New York Hospital Virtually Eliminates CRE Transmission in ICU Settings

Montefiore Medical Center has reduced carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) patient colonization in all of its ICUs by 53 percent and patient-to-patient transmission has been virtually eliminated using a highly successful patient safety intervention based on CDC’s ...More
March 7, 2013
Posted in News
Prevention Needed as CRE on the Rise in Hospitals, Long-Term Healthcare Facilities

As the superbugs known as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) have continued to spread over the last decade with cases in at least 42 states, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) urges healthcare professionals, facilities, patients and ...More
March 5, 2013
Posted in News, Hand Hygiene
CDC Says Action Needed Now to Halt Spread of CRE

A family of bacteria has become increasingly resistant to last-resort antibiotics during the past decade, and more hospitalized patients are getting lethal infections that, in some cases, are impossible to cure. The findings, published today in the Centers for Disease ...More
March 5, 2013
Posted in News, Hand Hygiene
New Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae Warrant Additional Action by Healthcare Providers

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a health alert for Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE): Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) are untreatable or difficult-to-treat multidrug-resistant organisms that are emerging in the ...More
February 27, 2013
Posted in News, PPE & Standard Precautions
CRE May Endure in Patients One Year After Initial Infection, Study Finds

Patients who tested positive for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) took an average of 387 days following hospital discharge to be clear of the organism, according to a new study published in the March 2013 issue of the American Journal of Infection Control. The ...More
February 27, 2013
Posted in News
Bugs Without Borders: The Global Challenge of MDROs

In a global economy with expansive travel networks, it is possible now for nations to quickly exchange pathogenic bacteria and viruses. These are bugs without borders, and they are becoming a public health threat that requires vigilance in surveillance, control, prevention ...More
February 8, 2013
Posted in Articles
Foreign Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria Contained in Toronto Hospital

As the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant infections continue to rise around the world, a hospital in Canada detected the presence of New Delhi Metallo-ß-lactamase-1-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae (NDM1-Kp), a multidrug resistant bacteria that is resistant to carbapenems, ...More
December 11, 2012
Posted in News