Update: Briefing on ESBLs, CPEs, & other antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria

We originally wrote this post in 2015 as a briefing on various antibiotic resistant bacteria. It’s one of the most popular articles on the blog, so time for an update! Read on to discover more about “antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria” and why resistant Enterobacterales are a real cause for concern. What are “antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria”? There…

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CDC issues updated antibiotic resistance threat report

As 2019 draws to a close, and we look to 2020, it’s interesting to see how the CDC assesses the risks associated with antibiotic resistance in their updated threat report. The report is well worth a read, providing an overview of the threat of antibiotic resistance, a discussion on the approaches to preventing the emergence and…

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Highlights from Infection Prevention 2019

We had a lovely time in Liverpool for Infection Prevention 2019 – we hope that you did too, if you got the chance to go. We have collated some of our highlights in this post. All of the abstracts are published in a Journal of Infection Prevention supplement, here. It’s great to see and hear about…

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Sink drains as a risk for CPE

There is increasing evidence that sink drains can be contaminated with CPE and that this environmental contamination can find its way onto patients. A new study from the US found that contamination of sink drains with CPE and with carbapenemases was commonplace, and that proximity to toilets was an important predictor of drain contamination. The study was…

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The 2018 ESPAUR Report: progress but worrying trends

The 2018 English Surveillance Programme for Antimicrobial Utilisation and Resistance (ESPAUR) report has just been released by Public Health England (PHE) and, as with most reports the results show a mixed picture. The good news is that total antibiotic consumption has fallen by 6% over the past four years and is [now] at the lowest level since…

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Colistin resistance genes found lurking on hospital surfaces

The emergence of colistin resistance in antibiotic resistant Gram-negative bacteria like CPE is a real concern. An Italian study just published has discovered colistin-resistance genes (mcr-1) on hospital surfaces. This raises the worrying possibility that hospital surfaces could be an important reservoir from which colistin resistance genes could spread to bacteria that cause healthcare-associated infection, making infections…

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