CRE Superbug May Remain In Patients Bodies 1 Year After Infection, CDC Alerting Doctors

The CRE Superbug may remain in the bodies of infected patients for up to 387 days, a new study conducted by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology found.

This leaves patients infected with the CRE superbug, or Carbapenem-resistant Entrobacteriacae, vulnerable to re-infection and able to spread the superbug for up to a year.

CRE superbug infections are very difficult to treat and have been associated with very high mortality rates, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC is currently alerting clinicians of the dangers of the CRE superbug as an emerging untreatable multidrug-resistant organism in the U.S., according to Fox News.

The CRE superbugs are potentially deadly infections that are highly resistant to antibiotics, making treatment difficult. The bacteria aren't normally found in healthy people, but patients on ventilators, catheters, or those on long courses of antibiotics are at high risk for infection by the superbug.

Patients in the study who tested positive for the CRE Superbug took an average of 387 days after they were discharged from the hospital to be completely free of the organism, according to the study published in the March issue of the American Journal of Infection Control.

That journal is the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

The soon-to-be-published study was conducted in the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, Israel. In the 700-bed facility, the research team analyzed follow-up tests from 97 CRE Superbug-positive patients.

Science Daily wrote, "The average time until cultures became negative was 387 days. At three months, 78 percent of patients remained culture positive; at six months, 65 percent remained positive; at nine months, 51 percent, and at one year 39 percent of patients remained positive, meaning they could potentially become re-infected or transmit the germs to others."

The study continued to say that patients should remain isolated throughout treatment and be regularly tested until they are proven to be CRE-negative to prevent further spread of the bacteria.

"Patients with multiple hospitalizations or those who were diagnosed with clinical CRE disease should be assumed to have a more extended duration of CRE coverage and should therefore be admitted under conditions of isolation and cohorting until proven to be CRE-negative. These measures will reduce the hospitalization of CRE-positive patients among the general patient population, potentially preventing the spread of CRE," the study advised.