Last September, a woman in her 70s died of a bad case of CRE, or carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae. It wasn’t just antibiotic resistant, it was resistant to ALL antibiotics. You probably haven’t heard much about it. The future where antibiotics no longer work is now—at the earliest part of the window experts gave—but it’s being drowned […]
Remember the superbug outbreak linked to endoscopes? Basically, endoscopes were collecting germs (particularly CRE) and passing them between patients—despite following manufacturer and FDA directions. The initial analysis(/assumption) was that it was related to the grooves in the scopes, and hospitals promised to go above and beyond the bare recommendations to prevent future outbreaks. After months […]
Apparently they’re fairly frequent. This time, it’s an endoscope facility in LA, and the superbug in question isn’t MRSA, but carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE. Remembering that many patients are already sick/have a weakened immune system when they get it, the survival rate is only about 50%. It’s the same story as the hospital in Seattle, […]
Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) is a superbug with a mortality rate of almost 50%, and enough cases have surfaced in the last year that the CDC is reminding doctors of the guidelines for handling CRE in an effort to contain it (treating doctors, nearby patients, etc. are all at risk of catching it). CRE is resistant […]