The CDC has been tracking a resistant bacteria call carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae or CRE since 2001. This bacterium causes infections that are resistant to antibiotics and have affected people who are in or recently had inpatient medical care. CRE has affected 4% of short-stay hospitals and 18% of long-term acute care hospitals all having at least one case of CRE.
CRE
The most common type of CRE (CRKP) has been rising rapidly, a seven–fold increase in 10 years. The CDC has issued the Guidance for Control of Infections with Carbapenem-Resistant or Carbapenenmase-Producing Enterobacteriaceae in Acute Care Facilities [http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5810a4.htm] and a 2012 CRE Toolkit located at http://www.cdc.gov/hai/organisms/cre/cre-toolkit/index.html. Located within the 2012 CRE Toolkit are recommendations for precautions and protocols for facilities that rarely (1x/month or less) or never have CRE infections, Appendix B.
CRE colonizes in a person and requires contact precautions be held to strictly. A patient with CRE would ideally be in a private room, hand hygiene would be carried out before donning gloves and gown before entering the patient’s room. Before leaving the room the remove the gown and gloves, then perform hand hygiene.
Admission policies should be in place to identify patients that have or have had CRE or other epidemiologically important infections. If precautions and protocols for identifying and treating patients with a CRE infection are followed, the infection can and has been stopped in facilities without spreading. We have all been hearing about CRE on the news, I wanted you to be aware of the resources available for your use.
Sincerely,
Christine Kroll, MS, OTR
Director of Operations
Healthcare Therapy Services, Inc.