Untreatable bacterial strain appears

In a recent study, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned about a "hard-to-treat" strain of bacteria that is spreading rapidly in medical facilities in this country, threatening the health of patients and even causing incurable infections.

The report was published in the CDC's "Vital Signs" publication on March 5. According to CDC officials, the deadly bacteria is carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (CRE).

Illustration photo. (Source: leadingageindiana.org)

Enterobacteriaceae is a family of intestinal bacteria, including over 70 species of Gram-negative bacilli, including E. coli that commonly live in the digestive tract.

Scientists say that over the years, some bacteria in the enterobacteriaceae group have developed resistance to carbapenem antibiotics. This group of antibiotics is widely used in the treatment of diseases, especially playing a certain role in the treatment of multi-resistant cases involving Gram-negative bacilli.

The authors of the study said the strongest antibiotics they used were ineffective against CRE, causing patients to die from severe, untreatable infections. The report also found that more than half of the patients died after developing bloodstream infections caused by the bacteria.

Scientists also said that this type of bacteria is very easy to spread quickly in medical facilities, mainly from the hands of medical staff, then transmitted to sick people, even healthy people. The risk of CRE infection is even higher for patients who are treated for a long time in the hospital, patients who access special treatments and elderly people who use nursing services at home.

The report also found that nearly 200 hospitals and long-term care facilities had at least one case of CRE infection in the first six months of 2012. The CDC added that over the past decade, the agency has detected a type of CRE in health care facilities in 42 states.

In response to this situation, CDC Director Tom Fraiden has recommended that healthcare workers and medical teams develop strategies to protect and detect CRE bacteria to prevent the rapid spread of the bacteria. In addition, scientists have advised doctors to use antibiotics more wisely, in addition to establishing special treatment areas, where medical equipment and medical staff focus only on treating patients infected with CRE./.

According to (TTXVN) - VT