‘Nightmare bacteria’ rising, Victorian health department warns hospitals

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An emergency department sign at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.
A drug-resistant strain of bacteria known as Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC) is on the rise in Victoria, says the state health department. Photograph: Julian Smith/AAP

Victorian hospitals have been warned that rates of a deadly super bug, dubbed the “nightmare bacteria” because of its high death rate, are increasing.

The state health department told hospitals on Tuesday to heighten their infection control measures after lab tests revealed Carbapenem resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) was on the rise.

This was being driven by a highly drug-resistant strain of the bacteria known as Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC), which kills half of those it infects.

Acting chief health officer, Dr Finn Romanes, said transmission of KPC between hospital patients had resulted in a cluster of cases at St Vincent’s hospital, though it had been detected in non-harmful levels in two patients at other hospitals.

Of the three patients infected with KPC at St Vincent’s, two died, though whether it was the bacteria, their other conditions, or a combination of both that caused their deaths was unclear.

“All Victorian health services have been provided with information from the department of health emphasising the need to ensure all current national standards are in place and being strictly followed,” Romanes said.

“We are taking significant action to protect public health by asking all hospitals to introduce heightened infection control and prevention measures, to ensure these highly antibiotic resistant bacteria are not spread.”

This included extra screening of patients who had recently been hospitalised overseas, St Vincent’s infectious diseases consultant, associate Professor Kumar Visvanathan, said.
“We are committed to doing everything we can to eradicate KPC,” he said. “While it’s early days yet we believe we are having some success.”

A German study published last week in the online medical journal, PLoS One, described KPC as a rising problem in hospitals worldwide, with treatment options limited because of its resistance to several classes of antibiotics.

It is spread through blood and urine, usually through person-to-person contact. Patients with catheters or on ventilators are most susceptible, as it provides a way for the bacteria to enter the bloodstream. Healthy people are not usually infected.

A professor of infectious diseases at Australian National University, Peter Collignon, said there should be a national strategy to tackle the infection.

“CRE is a problem because if infection occurs it has limited, and only a relatively toxic, therapy available,” Collignon said.

“These strains are likely introduced from overseas via a patient treated in one of those facilities and who has then come back to Australia. We need to stop the spread. This means better infection control than what we are doing now.

“We need surveillance and screening to see where risk is higher and to see what is happening.”