Public Health Departments and CRE

When unusual forms of resistance, including certain types of CRE, are identified by healthcare or public health facilities, it should prompt a public health investigation. This investigation should be led by a public health department, working in close coordination with healthcare facilities. Some response and prevention strategies may require coordination across health jurisdictions.

Health departments should:

• Understand the prevalence or incidence of CP-CRE in their jurisdiction by performing some form of regional surveillance for these organisms.
• Increase awareness among healthcare facilities of the regional prevalence of CP-CRE and prevention strategies and initiatives.
• Provide a standardized form for facilities to use during patient transfers, especially between hospitals and long-term care facilities.
• Consider including CRE infections on your state’s Notifiable Diseases List.
• Include a range of facility types when developing regional CRE prevention projects.
• Be a resource for healthcare facilities on appropriate infection prevention measures and antimicrobial stewardship.

Resources

• See the library of
  Infection Control Guidelines
  

  AR Laboratory Network

• Containment Strategy Guidelines
• Expanded Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing for Hard-to-Treat Infections (ExAST)
• Frequently Asked Questions and Example Verbal Scripts to Request Assent for Multidrug-Resistant Organism (MDRO) Screening word icon[DOC – 40 KB]
• Facility Guidance for Control of Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE)
• Containing Unusual Resistance: CDC Vital Signs
• Responding to New Forms of Antibiotic Resistance pdf icon[PDF – 526 KB]

Success Stories

• Colorado Statewide Surveillance Directs Prevention for CRE Efforts pdf icon[PDF – 360 KB]