'Nightmare Bacteria' Found In Maryland: CDC

MARYLAND — Antibiotic-resistant "nightmare bacteria" infections were found more than 220 times last year in more than 20 states, including Maryland, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 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. Health officials say an alarming 50 percent of those infected with CRE typically die.

There were 17 patients in Maryland with CRE in 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control. But antibiotic-resistant infections are more widespread than just those attributed to CRE. About two 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 (CDC).

The antibiotic resistant germs can "spread like wildfire" and result in infections that are impossible to treat, according to the CDC's study. The infections are most prevalent in hospitals and nursing homes where patients use IVs or other tubes that can become contaminated, the study found.

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.

Some infected patients had traveled to other countries where drug-resistant germs are more common for surgery or treatment, according to ABC.

In addition to Maryland, the CDC study found "nightmare bacteria" infections in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

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

To combat the spread of "nightmare bacteria," the Maryland Department of Health conducts surveillance to track antibiotic-resistant threats as part of the Emerging Infections Program, a partnership with nine other states and organizations including the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and University of Maryland School of Public Health.

The CDC also gave Maryland more than $8.1 million in FY 2017 to support initiatives including the following:

• The University of Maryland Baltimore piloted a program to add gowns and gloves in nursing homes to prevent the spread of Staphylococcus aureus, which is increasingly resistant to antibiotics.
• The J. Craig Ventner Institute in Rockville is developing a database to help public health officials detect and identify genes showing antibiotic resistance as they occur.
• The CDC's Antibiotic Resistance Lab in Maryland is working on, among other initiatives, a pilot program to identify outbreaks of gonorrhea and develop alternative treatments, as resistance is growing.

In addition, the state was given funding to ramp up its ability to test for "nightmare bacteria," allowing for rapid detection and response, after officials said more than 800 samples were tested in 2016.

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. 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:

• Inform your doctors if you recently had health care in another country.
• Wash your hands regularly and keep cuts clean until healed.
• Talk about infection prevention with health care professionals and get vaccinated.

— By Patch editors Shannon Antinori and Elizabeth Janney

Image via Shutterstock.

Editor's note: This article has been corrected to take out reference to Candida auris, which is not bacteria but a fungus that is resistant to antibiotics. It has been deemed a "super bug" that spreads like bacteria and can be transmitted through people or contaminated surfaces.

SEE ALSO: Rare 'Superbug' Strikes Maryland Patient: CDC