Brazil KPC: Notification Is Not Required

Previously reported on here

22/10/2010 - 12:30
Excerpt:

The Federal District has the highest number of infections and deaths. Are 183 reported cases in 17 hospitals - an increase of almost 70% in less than two weeks - and 18 deaths. Of the patients infected by the bacteria in the DF table 46 had infection and 61 remain hospitalized in public and private hospitals.

The State Department of Health Department reported yesterday that there is no outbreak of KPC. It said hospitals in the isolated cases are not reported because the notification is not required. But data from the National Agency for Sanitary Vigilance Agency (Anvisa) count 70 cases in São Paulo.

The issue of mandatory notification of cases involving antibiotic-resistant bacteria, such as KPC, will be discussed tomorrow (22) in a meeting between technical experts in infectious diseases and Anvisa and microbiology. According Anvisa, current legislation does not expressly, clearly, the need for compulsory registration by the states for this type of case, allowing different interpretations of the standard.

The increase in cases related to the KPC has put the government on alert. The mortality in cases of the bacteria is 30% to 40% higher compared to mortality caused by nosocomial infections, according to the director of Anvisa, Dirceu Barbano. The meeting with the experts aims to identify where are the flaws that caused the contamination by the superbug and the adoption of measures to contain and prevent new cases.