The Carolinas HealthCare System is screening for CRE, isolating infected patients and taking extra steps to decontaminate their rooms after two Charlotte-area patients die, according to an article on the Charlotte Observer website.
The family of bacteria that includes CRE (carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae) is highly resistant to antibiotics and difficult to treat. Some strains can kill half of the people they infect, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At Carolinas HealthCare, CRE patients have a nursing staff that doesn’t interact with other patients. Hospital workers who treat CRE patients have to wear gowns and gloves that are discarded before they leave the room, the article said.
The hospital also aggressively cleans the rooms of CRE patients who are released from the hospital, using a device that kills bacteria with ultraviolet light.
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