House Leaders Call for Hearing on CRE

On the heels of the CDC's release of new information regarding carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, lawmakers are calling for the House of Representatives' Energy and Commerce Committee to hold hearings on the deadly bacteria. (We first wrote about the CRE threat here last week.)

The lawmakers are asking the committee to meet with healthcare providers, researchers and health agency representatives as quickly as possible to determine the appropriate federal response to the threat.

CRE is lethal in about 50 percent of cases, is resistant to even last-resort antibiotics and can spread its resistance to other germs. It has been reported in hospitals and long-term care centers in 42 states.