Antibiotic-resistant infections broke out at Rambam Hospital

Resistant bacteria in Rambam’s inpatient wards: The Haifa Medical Center ordered urgent measures to be taken to control an outbreak of infections that were discovered in several wards of the hospital with some bacteria that are highly resistant to antibiotics, and a dangerous fungus.

This is an Acinetobacter bacterium, a Klebsiella bacterium and a fungus of the Candida auris type. The bacteria do not endanger healthy people, but in patients with a weakened immune system they can cause life-threatening complications. One of the hypotheses is that the outbreak was caused by the heavy workload of the hospitalized patients. The Rambam Hospital is known for having a very high occupancy rate in the emergency rooms and inpatient wards.

Prof. Mickey Halbertal,Rambam director, assumed that in the wards where the infection was found, the medical teams will move to work in full shielding when moving from patient to patient, and also no new patients will be admitted until the outbreak is overcome. A directive was also given to brief the families of the patients visiting the wards on protection and strict cleanliness hands.

Acinetobacter It is one of the most resistant bacteria known today, and has been ranked by the World Health Organization as the most important threatening bacteria. This is a “gram negative” bacteria that is especially common in hospitals and intensive care units and is resistant to most types of antibiotics. The bacterium mainly causes blood infections, lung infections in respiratory patients, infections in catheters and open surgical wounds. In about 80% of those infected, the bacteria is fatal.

The Klebsiella bacterium is considered a highly resistant bacterium as well, and it has strains, one of which – “Klebsiella pneumonia” is very common in hospitals around the world, and can cause extremely severe infections. The bacteria spread quickly as a significant proportion of the infections occur in hospitals. According to the medical literature, about 8 percent of infections in hospitals are caused by bacteria. Infection with Klebsiella bacteria usually occurs in the lungs, where the bacteria causes devastating changes including inflammation, phlegm secretion, bleeding and death of the lung tissue. The disease mainly affects adults and the elderly who suffer from lung diseases, diabetes and alcoholism.

The Klebsiella bacterium is also common in infections during hospitalization, where the bacterium infects the urinary system, respiratory tract and surgical wounds. The bacterium may soon invade other organs and cause gallbladder inflammation, osteomyelitis, diarrhea, meningitis, vein infections and blood infection. The penetration of the bacterium into the blood and its multiplication there causes a condition called sepsis (sepsis) which leads to a sharp drop in blood pressure up to shock, loss of consciousness and death.

In cases of lung infections, the bacterium shows great resistance to most types of antibiotics. The mortality rate may reach up to 50%, even under antibiotic treatment. Often the patient reaches respiratory failure and undergoes artificial respiration. In cases of blood infections, the death rate is even higher. Early diagnosis and rapid initiation of treatment may improve the patient’s chance of survival.