Deadly CRE Superbug Spreads, CDC Issues Nationwide Warning

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has sent a nationwide warning about the rise of an untreated superbug that is spreading across clinics around the country.

The super virus is known as Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) and kills roughly 50 percent of those infected, the CDC reports, adding that of the 37 known forms of the virus in the U.S., 15 were reported in less than a year.

Officials with the CDC are warning health care provides to take the threat posed by the virus seriously and to "act aggressively to prevent the emergence and spread of these unusual CRE organisms."

Officials say CRE has evolved high levels of resistance to antibiotics and typically infect patients being treated for other conditions at long term health facilities. Patients with weak immune systems and patients with medical devices going into their body are most susceptible to the virus.

Medical staff and individuals who may have shared a room with an infected patient should be screened for the virus, the CDC says, to make sure the the are not infected. The CDC also warns that medical staff treating infected patients should not care for non-infected patients. 

CRE's are germs found in normal human intestines that can cause dangerous infections when they spread outside the intestines.The CDC reports that CRE can cause urinary tract infections, bloodstream infections, and pneumonia.

Officials say the number of antibiotics available for treatment are limited and add that some infections can be treated with alternative therapies like draining the infection.  

CRE's have been reported in all but eight states.