The latest ‘superbug’ is a particular problem in hospital settings.
Minister for Health Simon Harris has announced that he is convening the National Public Health Emergency Team as a public health response to a new CPE/CRE superbug in Ireland.
Carbapenemase Producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE), also referred to as Carbapenem Resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) have developed the ability to become resistant to last-resort powerful antimicrobials known as carbapenems, which makes them more challenging to treat if they go on to cause infection.
CPE are gram-negative bacteria that are carried in the gut and are resistant to most, and sometimes all, available antibiotics. Shed in the faeces and transmitted by direct and indirect contact, CPE are an established threat to human health, particularly in hospital settings.
A period of four weeks or more may elapse between contact that results in acquisition of the organism and the time at which CPE becomes detectable in the faeces of the contact. More than half of all patients who develop blood stream infections with CPE die as a result of their infection.
CPE has been declared as a public health emergency in Ireland, so that it is managed in line with the Public Health Plans which have been previously put in place for influenza.
“We have seen a rapid and worrying increase in the incidence of CPE in Ireland, with a significant increase in numbers of cases of CPE in recent years,” said Minister for Health Simon Harris.
“Known outbreaks have occurred in eight healthcare facilities in Ireland resulting in high costs and bed closures. International experience indicates that CPE and Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) need to be tackled at national level. That is why I am now convening the National Public Health Emergency Team and activating the National Public Health Emergency Plan. There is experience from other countries that a vigorous response in good time can contain CPE and so I am committed to tackling this with the urgency it requires.”
“We are now taking a number of important steps,” Harris added.
“A National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) will be convened next week. This group will provide advice, guidance, support and direction on the surveillance and management of CPE at national level; the development and implementation of a strategy to contain CPE and provide oversight. NPHET will conduct its work having regard to the broader healthcare associated infections (HCAI) and AMR issues in line with Ireland’s National Action on AMR 2017-2020 (iNAP),which I have launched today.”
Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan, stated: “I have examined this issue, in conjunction with the National Patient Safety Office, and concluded that the patient safety issues are so important that this CPE public health emergency requires a co-ordinated whole system response.”
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