Nightmare Bacteria

Today in the United States, we associate our hospitals with cleanliness, recovery, and skilled physicians. It is usually safe to assume that we will not become infected with new diseases while staying in a hospital. The unhygienic hospitals prior to the discovery of bacteria and viruses are a thing of the past. There are standards of sanitation and powerful medicines to keep possible infections of patients at bay, and for the most part these eliminate any chance of an outside infection during a visit at an infirmary.  In recent years however, scientists have discovered outbreaks in these sanitized environments. These new outbreaks are a consequence of using powerful antibiotics, and may prove disastrous to health care facilities in the future. Kelly Fitzgerald writes about this threat in her article “Drug-Resistant Superbug Hits U.S. Hospitals,” which was published on Medical News Today.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/257310.php

The new deadly bacterium that has been infecting hospital patients in over 42 states is called Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae (or CRE). Carbapenem is an extremely powerful antibiotic that is commonly referred to as the “last resort” antibiotic. Over the past 10 years, this organism has been gaining resistance to the antibiotics most commonly used to treat it, and infection counts have increased fourfold. It is in the same family as bacteria such as E. Coli, and strikes the digestive system. It kills over 50% of its victims, and is spread through contact between patients or the hands of health workers. One of the most striking features of this bacterium is that it is adaptable; meaning it can learn the resistive properties of other bacteria within its family.

CRE is spread on the hands of health workers

CDC Director Tom Frieden warns that the CRE are a “nightmare bacteria” that must be stopped using the CDC’s “detect and protect” strategy. He calls for increased communication between facilities moving patients regionally, following of infection control protocol, and above all wary use of antibiotics. He explains that abundant use of these drugs has encouraged superbugs such as CRE to adapt and gain resistance. He says that the threat of a CRE epidemic in hospitals and also among healthy people is very real. There is hope however, as Israel dealt with a similar outbreak of CRE effectively by following guidelines identical to those recommended by the CDC.

The CRE superbacteria

The thought of a superbug that thrives in sterile environments scares me. Although by following control techniques, the infection rates of CRE can be lowered 70%, there is still no actual way to treat an infection. If there were a miscommunication between health care facilities concerning the relocation of a patient, there could be a rapidly spreading and uncontrollable epidemic that could easily spread outside hospitals. I have always tried to be wary of the overuse of things such as Lysol, hand sanitizer, and other antibiotic chemicals. They all advertise “Kills Up to 99.9% of Bacteria!” I usually just wonder about that .1% that adapt to their disinfected surroundings and evolve to become the superbugs that the CDC is concerned about. I believe that both everyday people and physicians need to be more concerned with the overuse of everyday antiseptics, as well as powerful antibiotics. By using these in excess, we are depriving our immune systems of the chance to adapt to these bacterial infections, and encouraging that .1% of survivors to become deadlier and harder to control.