Klebsiella pneumoniae ?Superbug? at the NIH- 7th death reported

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...e18b1a-ec66-11e1-9ddc-340d5efb1e9c_story.html


?Superbug? stalked NIH hospital last year, killing six
By Brian Vastag, Wednesday, August 22, 3:06 PM

When a 43-year-old female lung transplant patient arrived at the National Institutes of Health?s Clinical Center in June 2011, the hospital?s infection control team was on high alert. The woman carried a ?superbug? resistant to all but two antibiotics, and the NIH staff wanted to keep the dangerous bacteria contained.

The patient was isolated in the intensive care unit. Staff members donned gowns and gloves before entering her room. Her nurses cared for no other patients.

When she was discharged in July to return to New York, the NIH thought these measures had worked. There were no signs that the bug ? known as Klebsiella pneumoniae ? had spread.

But a few weeks later, the hospital staff was ?horrified,? said Tara Palmore, an NIH infection control specialist, when a second patient tested positive for the bacteria. A third and fourth soon followed. Those three patients eventually died as the bacteria grew impervious to every known antibiotic ? even new experimental drugs...

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Klebsiella pneumoniae ?Superbug? stalked NIH hospital last year, killing six

Re: Klebsiella pneumoniae ?Superbug? stalked NIH hospital last year, killing six

Source: http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/22/usa-genomics-outbreak-idINL2E8JLCKT20120822

Real-life 'Contagion' uses DNA to halt outbreak
Wed Aug 22, 2012 11:31pm IST

* Whole-genome sequencing reveals how infections spread

* Company sees $1 billion U.S. market

By Sharon Begley

NEW YORK, Aug 22 (Reuters) - If Hollywood needs a plot for a medical thriller, scientists at the National Institutes of Health have one: Doctors, using cutting-edge technology called whole-genome sequencing, trace an outbreak of a deadly bacterial infection, identify precisely how it's spreading - and in the final minutes sic poison-spewing robots on the rampaging microbes.

That's essentially what scientists did when Klebsiella pneumoniae, a n often-lethal bacterium, spread through NIH's research hospital in Bethesda, Maryland last year, as described in a study published on Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine...

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Klebsiella pneumoniae ?Superbug? at the NIH- 7th death reported

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...b3742e-fe9b-11e1-b153-218509a954e1_story.html

NIH superbug claims 7th victim
By Brian Vastag and Lena H. Sun, Published: September 14

A deadly, drug-resistant superbug outbreak that began last summer at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center claimed its seventh victim Sept. 7, when a seriously ill boy from Minnesota succumbed to a bloodstream infection, officials said Friday.

The boy was the 19th patient at the research hospital to contract an antibiotic-resistant strain of the bacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae that arrived in August 2011 with a New York woman who needed a lung transplant. But his case marked the first new infection of this superbug at NIH since January ? a worrisome signal that the bug persists inside the huge brick-and-glass federal facility in Bethesda...

 

[Emily]

Re: Klebsiella pneumoniae ?Superbug? at the NIH- 7th death reported

That's bad news. They thought they had it eradicated by last month, and this article detailed their battle:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/22/klebsiella-pneumoniae-superbug-nih-clinical-center-deadly_n_1822695.html

How Scientists Stopped Klebsiella Pneumoniae: Deadly Superbug Killed 6 At NIH Clinical Center

By LAURAN NEERGAARD 08/22/12 05:19 PM ET AP

[snip]
"This is not an easy story to tell," said Dr. Julie Segre, a senior investigator at NIH's National Human Genome Research Institute. She led the genetic sleuthing that found the bug hiding in sink drains and, most chilling, even in a ventilator that had been cleaned with bleach.
[snip]
"They were able to demonstrate that this sneaky little bug was able to stay alive and get transmitted in ways they hadn't quite predicted before they had the detailed genetic information," said Dr. Sara Cosgrove, associate hospital epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University. "It's very revealing."..

It's a very in-depth article. The hospital even used robotic devices to spray disinfectants into places where humans couldn't reach. They were really careful with survivors of the infection when they return for treatment since they still carry the bacteria.