Antibiotic-resistant superbugs dubbed "nightmare bacteria" by federal health officials have been found present in about 40 patients since July at a transitional-care hospital in Louisville, Kentucky.
Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE for short, are a family of superbugs that strike hospitalized patients and kill as many as half who get bloodstream infections. Hospitals can wind up with CRE cases if they are present in the patient upon admission, bacteria that have been sensitive to antibiotics become resistant, or if CRE is transmitted from patient to patient.
The investigation by the Kentucky Department for Public Health into the presence of superbugs at Kindred Hospital Louisville, a facility where patients often stay for weeks, has not attributed any deaths to CRE in Kindred patients so far. The presence of CRE in bodily fluids could mean the patient is "colonized" by the bacteria without developing an infection. Read the full details here:
Kindred had 40 CRE cases
Often times infections occur in nursing home residents through nobody's fault. However, if your loved one contracts a deadly bacteria while convalescing at a nursing home, you should investigate whether the facility's infection rate is unacceptably high due to poor sanitary conditions.
If you or someone you love has been injured due to nursing home abuse or negligence, call the professionals at Crandall & Pera Law for a free case evaluation.