APIC Tracks State Reporting of CRE Infections

The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) has compiled a summary of states that have statewide reporting of the superbug carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), one of the organisms the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has placed in the urgent category in its new report on Antibiotic Resistance Threats, released today.

According to the CDC, untreatable and hard-to-treat infections from CRE are on the rise among patients in medical facilities, with 44 states reporting confirmed cases. These nightmare bacteria have become resistant to nearly all the antibiotics currently available and can transfer their resistance to other organisms. Almost half of patients who get bloodstream infections from CRE germs die from the infections.
Eleven states so far report CRE. The APIC report summarizes how individual states are defining, tracking, and reporting CRE to their state health departments, and provides helpful links to state government websites. APIC will provide updates as new information becomes available. 

Tracking the spread of antibiotic-resistant infections is one of the four core actions identified by the CDC to combat the serious health threat posed by antibiotic-resistant germs such as CRE. The CDC estimates that in the United States, more than two million people are sickened every year with antibiotic-resistant infections, with at least 23,000 dying as a result.