CRE germs kill up to half of patients who get bloodstream infections from them

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4% & 18% - About 4% of the 4,000 US hospitals studied had at least one patient with a serious CRE infection during the first half of 2012. About 18% of the country’s 200 long-term acute care hospitals had one. This totals nearly 200 facilities with at least one CRE patient in six months.

42 - One type of CRE infection has been reported in medical facilities in 42 states during the last 10 years.

1 in 2 CRE germs kill up to half of patients who get bloodstream infections from them.

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Vital Signs Graphics 2

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Klebsiella pneumoniae

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CDC’s Kitty Anderson holds up a 96-well plate used for testing the ability of bacteria to growth in the presence of antibiotics.

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CDC staff show two plates growing bacteria in the presence of discs containing various antibiotics. The isolate on the left plate is susceptible to the antibiotics on the discs and is therefore unable to grow around the discs. The one on the right has a CRE that is resistant to all of the antibiotics tested and is able to grow near the disks.

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CDC’s Tatiana Travis sets up real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test to detect drug-resistant pathogens, including CRE.

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CDC microbiologist, Tatiana Travis, sets up real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test to detect drug-resistant pathogens, including CRE.

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CDC microbiologist, Kitty Anderson, looks at a 96-well plate used for testing the ability of bacteria to growth in the presence of antibiotics.

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CDC microbiologist, Johannetsy Avillan, holds up a plate that demonstrates the modified Hodge test, which is used to identify resistance in bacteria known as Enterobacteriaceae. Bacteria that are resistant to carbapenems, considered “last resort” antibiotics, produce a distinctive clover-leaf shape.

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CDC microbiologist, Kitty Anderson, looks at a 96-well plate used for testing the ability of bacteria to grow in the presence of antibiotics.

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CDC microbiologist, Johannetsy Avillan, holds up a plate that demonstrates the modified Hodge test, which is used to identify resistance in bacteria known as Enterobacteriaceae. Bacteria that are resistant to carbapenems, considered “last resort” antibiotics, produce a distinctive clover-leaf shape.

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CDC microbiologist, Alicia Shams, demonstrates Klebsiella pneumoniae growing on a MacConkey agar plate. Klebsiella pneumoniae is the most common Enterobacteriaceae that is drug resistant.

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