CDC: 'Nightmare bacteria' invading hospitals

By Morning Express with Robin Meade staff

updated 2:27 PM EST, Wed March 06, 2013

NEED TO KNOW

'Super-bugs' kill half of all people infected
Most antibiotics don't stop them
May soon be too late to stop spread

The director of the Centers for Disease Control calls them "nightmare bacteria," and they're invading more hospitals and nursing homes.

Forty-two states are reporting problems with a class of super bugs known as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE.

Infections are not common but when they occur, they kill about half the people they infect. Plus, the infections spread their super-resistance to other bacteria.

The CDC hopes sounding the alarm now will stop CRE from moving out of hospitals and into communities.

More from the CDC: Patients face more lethal infections from CRE

Morning Express with Robin Meade airs Monday through Friday at 6am ET on HLN. Like the show on Facebook, follow on Twitter: @MorningExp.

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