Advertisement

CDC: Coordinated approach could cut projected 'superbug' infections in half

 
Published Aug. 5, 2015

With the United States facing an increasing number of drug-resistant "superbugs," federal health officials said a relatively simple solution could prevent more than half a million of the most deadly infections over five years.

Hospitals or nursing homes try to control infections on their own, but they rarely tell each other when a patient being transferred into another facility is carrying antibiotic-resistant bacteria. That lack of information greatly increases the risk that the germ will be spread.

A coordinated approach, in which health facilities in a region share data with a central public health authority — which in turn distributes the information — could sharply improve detection and save tens of thousands of lives, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report released Tuesday.

The researchers focused on infections caused by four of the most aggressive pathogens: Clostridium difficile, or C. diff, which attacks the gut when antibiotics kill off weaker germs; carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, which the CDC has labeled a "nightmare" germ because it is resistant to nearly all antibiotics and kills up to half of patients who get bloodstream infections; a multi-drug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which can cause serious infections for hospitalized patients or those with weakened immune systems; and invasive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, which is spreading not only in health care facilities but also in schools, day cares and other places in communities.

According to current trends, infections from just these four pathogens could increase by as much as 10 percent over a five-year period, to 340,000 annually, the report said. But aggressive intervention using a coordinated approach could prevent 619,000 such health care-associated infections and 37,000 deaths over five years, the researchers said. They estimate the approach would save the health care system nearly $8 billion in treatment costs.

Overall, antibiotic-resistant germs cause more than 2 million illnesses and at least 23,000 deaths each year in the United States.