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By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, Oct. 5, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- A relatively new antibiotic-resistant bacteria called CRE is making inroads in some major American cities, U.S. health officials report.
Surveillance of seven U.S. metropolitan areas found higher-than-expected levels of CRE in Atlanta, Baltimore and New York City, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Lower-than-expected levels were found in Albuquerque, Denver and Portland, Ore., while the Minneapolis rate was what the agency anticipated.
But CDC researchers were dismayed that they found active cases of CRE infection in every city they examined, said senior author Dr. Alexander Kallen, a CDC medical officer.
The results support the CDC's decision to promote coordinated regional efforts to prevent the spread of CRE and other antibiotic-resistant germs, Kallen said.
"Here we are with an opportunity to intervene on one of these multidrug-resistant organisms just as it's about to emerge and it's still relatively uncommon," he said. "That is the time you want to intervene. It's much easier to control things and prevent the organism from becoming more common when it's rare."
About 9 percent of people died due to their infection from CRE, the researchers found. But some estimates have held that as many as 50 percent of CRE infections contribute to death if they lead to a bloodstream infection, Kallen said.
CRE, or Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, are a class of common bacteria that have developed resistance to some of the most widely used antibiotics, Kallen said. CRE were first reported in 2001.
The best-known enterobacteriaceae are E. coli, a common cause of food poisoning, and Klebsiella pneumoniae, which can cause pneumonia and potentially fatal bloodstream infections, Kallen said.
CRE bacteria are able to produce an enzyme that breaks down antibiotics, forcing doctors to resort to older and more toxic antibiotics to stave off infections, he said.
Most CRE infections occur at a hospital. In fact, hospitalization was the most common potential exposure to CRE, the study found. Patients' median (midpoint) age was 66.
But public health experts are worried that since enterobacteriaceae are so common in daily life, havoc could ensue if CRE starts to become transmitted outside of health care settings.