Potentially deadly bacteria resistant to nearly all antibiotics gains foothold in Lower Mainland. 50% who get it in their bloodstream die as a result.
Fraser Health identifed 41 patients who were affected by carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (CRE) between last summer and the end of 2013, says Elizabeth Brodkin, FHA’s medical director of infection prevention and control. That tally, which far surpasses the handful of cases reported by B.C.’s other regional health authorities, puts Fraser Health on the front lines of fighting what has been dubbed a nightmare bacteria.
Demographics plays a role in where such organisms show up. Fraser Health serves communities including Surrey, which has a population of nearly half a million people, with nearly one-third of them of South Asian ethnicity. With people regularly travelling to and from countries where the bacteria are endemic, such as India, bacteria sometimes come along.
“This is something we have talked about very openly,” Linda Hoang, a medical microbiologist with the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, citing the sizable South Asian population in the region. “They [Fraser Health] were aware and we were aware, over the last three years, that at some point this was going to happen.”
The BCCDC worked with Fraser Health to address what the health authority is calling a “cluster” – not an outbreak – of cases and believes the numbers have been brought under control, Dr. Hoang said.
Dr. Brodkin would not say which Fraser Health facilities were involved. Nobody died as a direct result of the bacteria, but an undisclosed number of patients died with the bacteria in their systems. Some patients got CRE-related infections but doctors were able to treat them, she said.
Beginning last summer, Fraser Health implemented a screening program at some of its sites. In that process, patients being admitted to the hospital are asked if they have been admitted to a hospital or received dialysis outside of Canada within the past six months.
Anyone who answers “yes” will be tested for CRE. The program is expected to be in place at all Fraser Health facilities by next month. Other Canadian hospitals are taking similar precautions, with screening more common in large, teaching hospitals.
CREs, like other multidrug-resistant organisms, evolved as a result of the misuse and overuse of antibiotics.
They are resistant to nearly all antibiotics, including carbapenems, often referred to as the drugs of last resort. Up to 50 per cent of people who get a carbapenem-resistant infection in their bloodstream die as a result. And CREs can spread their resistant characteristics to other bacteria.
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B.C. steps up battle with ‘nightmare bacteria’ cluster - The Globe and Mail
Fraser Health identifed 41 patients who were affected by carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (CRE) between last summer and the end of 2013, says Elizabeth Brodkin, FHA’s medical director of infection prevention and control. That tally, which far surpasses the handful of cases reported by B.C.’s other regional health authorities, puts Fraser Health on the front lines of fighting what has been dubbed a nightmare bacteria.
Demographics plays a role in where such organisms show up. Fraser Health serves communities including Surrey, which has a population of nearly half a million people, with nearly one-third of them of South Asian ethnicity. With people regularly travelling to and from countries where the bacteria are endemic, such as India, bacteria sometimes come along.
“This is something we have talked about very openly,” Linda Hoang, a medical microbiologist with the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, citing the sizable South Asian population in the region. “They [Fraser Health] were aware and we were aware, over the last three years, that at some point this was going to happen.”
The BCCDC worked with Fraser Health to address what the health authority is calling a “cluster” – not an outbreak – of cases and believes the numbers have been brought under control, Dr. Hoang said.
Dr. Brodkin would not say which Fraser Health facilities were involved. Nobody died as a direct result of the bacteria, but an undisclosed number of patients died with the bacteria in their systems. Some patients got CRE-related infections but doctors were able to treat them, she said.
Beginning last summer, Fraser Health implemented a screening program at some of its sites. In that process, patients being admitted to the hospital are asked if they have been admitted to a hospital or received dialysis outside of Canada within the past six months.
Anyone who answers “yes” will be tested for CRE. The program is expected to be in place at all Fraser Health facilities by next month. Other Canadian hospitals are taking similar precautions, with screening more common in large, teaching hospitals.
CREs, like other multidrug-resistant organisms, evolved as a result of the misuse and overuse of antibiotics.
They are resistant to nearly all antibiotics, including carbapenems, often referred to as the drugs of last resort. Up to 50 per cent of people who get a carbapenem-resistant infection in their bloodstream die as a result. And CREs can spread their resistant characteristics to other bacteria.
more
B.C. steps up battle with ‘nightmare bacteria’ cluster - The Globe and Mail