A superbug infection resistant to all 27 available antibiotics killed a woman in Reno, Nevada, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday, in issuing a precaution to hospitals nationwide.
While this superbug case was rare, sepsis blood infections reportedly kill an estimated 258,000 Americans each year.
Medical experts have been warning for years of the dangers of overprescribing antibiotics because of the potential for antibiotic-resistant superbugs.
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The female patient who died this September from the superbug infection was a Washoe County, Nevada resident in her 70s who arrived in the United States in early August 2016 after an extended visit to India, the CDC said.
On August 18, she was admitted to an acute care hospital with a primary diagnosis of an infection called systemic inflammatory response syndrome, which likely resulted from an infected right hip.
A week after she was admitted, the hospital notified the Washoe County Health District in Nevada that the patient had a bacterial infection of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, called CRE.
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The specific CRE, Klebsiella pneumoniae, was isolated from a wound specimen collected on August 19, the CDC said. Because the patient had a history of recent hospitalization in India, the isolate was sent to CDC for testing to determine its source. The test confirmed the presence of New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase.
Isolates that are resistant to all antimicrobials are very uncommon, the CDC reported. The infection was resistant to all available 27 antimicrobial drugs.
The patient developed septic shock and died in early September, the CDC said.
Though the patient had been isolated in a single room, the hospital tested other patients in the unit, but found no additional CRE.
The CDC recommends that when these bacteria are identified, facilities ensure that appropriate infection control contact precautions are done to prevent transmission, and that healthcare contacts are evaluated for evidence of transmission.
Healthcare facilities should obtain a history of healthcare exposures outside their region upon admission, and consider screening for CRE when patients report recent exposure outside the United States or in regions of the United States known to have a higher incidence of CRE, the CDC said.
During the two years preceding her admittance in the U.S. hospital, the patient had multiple hospitalizations in India related to a right femur fracture, the CDC said. The most recent hospitalization in India had been in June 2016.
Twitter: @SusanJMorse