'Nightmare Bacteria' Found In California: CDC

CALIFORNIA — Antibiotic-resistant "nightmare bacteria" infections were recently found in California, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this week. The bacteria are known as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, and can cause pneumonia as well as infections of the bloodstream and urinary tract. The CDC said an alarming 50 percent of those infected with CRE typically die.

Antibiotic-resistant infections are more widespread than just those attributed to CRE. About 2 million Americans get infections from antibiotic-resistant bacteria each year and 23,000 die, according to Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC reported that California had at least 109 cases of CRE, which has been dubbed the "nightmare bacteria" by the agency, as of Dec. 31, 2017. That's more than nearly every other state, according to CDC data.*

In addition to California, the CDC study found these infections in dozens of other states including New York, Connecticut, Florida, Texas, Illinois, Washington and Alabama.

A CDC study found that the antibiotic resistant germs can "spread like wildfire" and result in infections that are impossible to treat. Some infected patients had traveled to other countries where drug-resistant germs are more common for surgery or treatment, according to ABC.

The infections are most prevalent in patients in hospitals and nursing homes who use IVs or other tubes that can become infected, according to the study.

In about 11 percent of cases, people in close contact with patients also sometimes carried the superbugs even though they weren't sick, creating the risk of further spreading the bacteria.

Germs with unusual resistance include those that cannot be killed by all or most antibiotics, are uncommon in a geographic area or the U.S. or have specific genes that allow them to spread their resistance to other germs, according to the CDC.

A CDC containment strategy to stop the spread of "nightmare bacteria" calls for rapid identification, infection control assessments, testing patients without symptoms who may carry and spread the germ and continued infection control assessments until spread is stopped. The study said health departments using the approach have conducted infection control assessments and colonization screenings within 48 hours of finding unusual resistance and have reported no further transmission during follow-up over several weeks.

"It’s reassuring to see that state and local experts, using our containment strategy, identified and stopped these resistant bacteria before they had the opportunity to spread," Schuchat said.

How can the public help stem the spread of nightmare bacteria? The CDC offers these suggestions:

• Tell your doctors if you recently had health care in another country.
• Talk with your doctors about preventing infections, taking care of chronic conditions to help avoid them, and getting vaccines to prevent them.
• Wash your hands regularly and keep cuts clean until healed.

Shannon Antinori contributed to this report / Image via Shutterstock

*Editor's note: Patch previously reported that California had more cases than any other state. However, Illinois did have more. We regret the error.