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A Potential Threat

Mitchell J. Schwaber, MD, MSc; Yehuda Carmeli, MD, MPH

JAMA. 2008;300(24):2911-2913.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

After more than 7 decades of antibiotic use, a recurrent pattern of antimicrobial resistance spread is evident among certain bacterial pathogens. In this pattern, resistance occurs first among the most severely ill hospitalized patients, then spreads to involve other patients in the hospital, and ultimately reaches the community. These events are initially localized geographically; however, via spread from region to region, resistant bacterial strains eventually establish global endemicity. This pattern has been observed with penicillin-resistant staphylococci, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA),¹ and extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)–producing Enterobacteriaceae.² In each case, adequate preventive measures to contain the spread of resistant pathogens were not implemented in time. In this Commentary, we discuss the implications of a new resistance threat to public health: the global spread of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE).

Bacteria from the family Enterobacteriaceae are among the most common pathogens in humans, affecting all populations . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Author Affiliations: National Center for Infection Control, Ministry of Health, State of Israel (Dr Schwaber); and Division of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Tel Aviv Medical Center (Dr Carmeli), Tel Aviv, Israel.

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