CDC Recognizes Two States Making Progress in the Fight Against Drug-Resistant Bacteria

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released a report and updated recommendations that detail how states and healthcare facilities should deal with carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), deadly pathogens that cause healthcare-associated infections. CRE are resistant to almost all drugs and can contribute to death in 40 percent of patients who become infected.  In response to this emerging threat, CDC has urged state health departments to find out how common CRE are in acute-care facilities in their states and to follow several key steps to protect patients.

Many states are actively working to prevent CRE from spreading within their healthcare facilities, for example: 
- Wisconsin implemented statewide surveillance of CRE to find out how common these infections are, identify where and how they spread, and guide control efforts to prevent CRE from becoming widespread in healthcare settings. They were the first state to mandate public reporting of CRE to CDCs National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). Currently, 137 Wisconsin hospitals are searching for CRE and have detected CRE in seven hospitalized patients.
- Minnesota developed recommendations to guide their healthcare facilities in CRE prevention. To date, no outbreaks or transmission of CRE have been detected among Minnesota facilities that have conducted active surveillance testing.  
 
See what your state is doing to prevent healthcare-associated infections: http://www.cdc.gov/HAI/state-based/index.html.