Tuesday, 6 October 2015

Disease

Antibiotic-resistant 'superbug' threatens US cities

A relatively new antibiotic-resistant bacterium 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. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention; while lower-than-expected levels were found in Albuquerque, Denver and Portland, Oregon, 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.

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.

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