Risk assessment: combined clonal and plasmid-mediated outbreak of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales, Lithuania, 2019-2020

A new risk assessment has been published by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), which evaluates the combined clonal and plasmid-mediated outbreak of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales in Lithuania during 2019-2020.

Between 1 February 2019 and 7 January 2020, 223 cases of Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC)-producing, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (KPC-CRE) were detected in Lithuania, including cases with infections, as well as carriage. This is a large increase in CRE cases in Lithuania compared with previous years.

The risk of further spread in the most-affected hospital, Hospital 1, is high, as a large number of cases were identified from multiple wards, and new cases were detected until at least 7 January 2020. This means that, while enhanced infection control measures have been implemented, the outbreak was still ongoing at the time of this assessment.

By contrast, the risk of transmission for individuals outside healthcare settings is low. There is also no evidence, so far, for cross-border transmission related to transfer of patients with CRE from the hospitals affected by the outbreak, to healthcare facilities in other countries.

Source: ECDC, 3 February 2020