Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) are bacteria that produce carbapenemase enzymes. These enzymes allow for the bacteria to be resistant to a valuable family of carbapenem antibiotics normally reserved to treat life threatening multidrug-resistant infections.

 

Carbapenem antibiotics are the true “antibiotics of last resort”. Resistance to these antibiotics risks a world where we have no treatment options remaining.

 

The rate of CPE infection in England has increased in recent years by nearly three-fold since data was first collected in Q4 2020, with the highest rates being felt by the most deprived communities.*

 

UKHSA has published a framework of actions to contain CPE. The guidance emphasises that each health provider should implement active admission screening guided by regional prevalence of CPE, and recommends NHS Trusts should use PCR or immunochromatographic assays for the four most common carbapenemase families.

 

There is a clinical consensus that more needs to be done to establish protocols for CPE screening and pre-emptive isolation of high-risk patients to reduce transmission across hospitals in England using rapid PCR testing.

 

*UKHSA, Carbapenemase-producing Gram-negative organisms in England since October 2020: quarterly update