EpidemicsSuperbug sweeps across Los Angeles hospitals
Last week, public health officials in Los Angeles reported an outbreak of a drug-resistant superbug in several local healthcare facilities; the deadly drug-resistant strain is Klebsiella pneumonia (CRKP) and is estimated to kill 40 percent of those who are infected with it; the LA county health department has identified 356 cases of the bacteria over a six month period; CRKP has primarily been infecting senior citizens; CRKP is part of a larger wave of antibiotic germs that have plagued hospitals in recent years; the bacteria was originally found on the east coast of the United States, and was only first seen last year in the Los Angeles area
Last week, public health officials in Los Angeles reported an outbreak of a drug-resistant superbug in several local healthcare facilities.
The deadly drug-resistant strain is Klebsiella pneumonia (CRKP) and is estimated to kill 40 percent of those who are infected with it.
The LA county health department has identified 356 cases of the bacteria over a six month period. The bulk of the cases were reported in eight long-term acute-care hospitals and one hospital, while the rest were reported in various nursing homes, short-term acute-care hospitals, and county-run hospitals.
CRKP has primarily been infecting senior citizens who often stay in healthcare facilities for extended periods of time. Infections have also been known to occur in sick patients. Healthy individuals are usually not affected.
According to Dr. Arjun Srinivasan, the associate director for healthcare associated infections prevention programs with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “These are very serious infections, hugely complicated by the fact that the treatment options are severely limited.”
CRKPhas developed resistance to nearly all antibiotics and according to Dr. Brad Spielberg, an infectious disease expert at Harbor UCLA Medical Center, there is currently no effective treatment for CRKP.
CRKP is currently not resistant to colistin, but it is so strong that it is toxic to patients and is not always effective in treating the infection.
Dr. Spielberg is also pessimistic about the prospects that there will be an effective way to fight these infections in the future.
“There’s been a complete collapse in the development of new antibiotics over the last decade…and in the next decade there isn’t going to be anything that becomes available that’s going to be able to treat these bacteria,” he said.
CRKP is part of a larger wave of antibiotic germs that have plagued hospitals in recent years. CRKP was originally found on the east coast of the United States, and was only first seen last year in the Los Angeles area.
“We’ve been monitoring the rise of this organism for a few years at CDC. Initially, it was first described in North Carolina, and then we started getting reports in the New York and New Jersey area. We are seeing reports of this organism all over the country now,” Dr. Srinivasan said.
Epidemiologists are unsure how the patients in Los Angeles had become infected.
Dr. Jonathan Fielding, a Los Angeles county health officer, said that CRKP was no reason to panic and that patients should not cancel their hospital visits.
“It is not necessarily more serious than other multiple drug-resistant organisms,” he said.
The CDC recommends aggressively preventing the spread of the infection by isolating infected patients and testing those around them.
