80% rise in cases of ‘nightmare’ hospital superbug

There has been an 80 per cent rise in the number of reported cases of a “nightmare” superbug called CPE that is resistant to last-resort antibiotics.

Consultant microbiologist Martin Cormican, director of the National CPE Reference Laboratory, said the number of reported cases of CPE in Ireland increased from 49 in 2013 to 88 in 2014.

CPE stands for Carbapenemase Producing Enterobacteriaceae, a family of bacteria that live in the gut of healthy people but can cause serious infection if they get into the blood.

CPE mostly preys on vulnerable, hospitalised patients, or those in nursing homes, and kills ...