Available treatment for NDM-CRE?

Experts say people with NDM-CRE bacteria won’t have any symptoms unless they develop an infection. Once they develop an infection, the symptoms will vary. NDM-CRE can cause such ailments as pneumonia, bloodstream infections, urinary tract infections and wound infections.

Some symptoms can include fever, chills with cough, shortness of breath if the bacteria infect the lung, and pain or blood when urinating if the bladder/kidneys are infected.

Since the bacteria are resistant to most antibiotics, treatment options are severely limited, leading to slower recovery and higher risk of serious complications or death, Gohil said.

Another reason health officials are concerned is because the bacteria can spread to others and survive on contaminated surfaces.

Doctors can test for NDM-CRE, but most people do not need to be tested unless they are at higher risk for having it, according to experts.

Those at risk are people who have been “in a hospital (especially in another country), had repeated antibiotics, hospital stays, or invasive medical procedures, or if you’re sick and been in contact with someone known to have NDM-CRE,” Gohil said.

Testing for the bacteria is also difficult because many hospitals and clinics do not have the tools to rapidly detect it in patients even when the patient is not sick.

How to protect yourself against NDM-CRE

NDM-CRE is caused by overuse of powerful antibiotics.

“I think this may be an opportunity for us to change the narrative where all patients typically want antibiotics,” Nanda said.

Nanda advises patients who are being prescribed with antibiotics to ask their healthcare provider:

• Why they’re getting prescribed the antibiotics? Why is it necessary?
• Ask about your options. Make sure you’ve exhausted all other treatments options before going straight to antibiotics.

“If you need it, you need it, but then be judicious about it,” she said.

Because NDM-CRE infections happen to people who are very sick, patients in hospitals or in long-term care, experts recommend that patients, healthcare staff and visitors in these settings wash their hands and avoid contact with dirty surfaces.

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