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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, A family of drug-resistant bacteria, that experts
3say kills up to 50% of people infected, is spreading in Chicago
4and elsewhere, prompting doctors and public health officials to
5step up efforts to protect patients; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Infections caused by these germs - called
7carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae, or CRE - are still
8rare, but are difficult and sometimes impossible to treat; no
9one knows the exact number of CRE infections or deaths in
10Illinois or nationwide, though the federal Centers for Disease
11Control and prevention is working on a report that would
12compile those statistics for the first time; and
 
13    WHEREAS, The Centers for Disease Control says an increasing
14percentage of germs in the entero-bacteriaceae family are
15becoming resistant to the carbapenems antibiotics used as a
16last-resort treatment for seriously-ill people; and
 
17    WHEREAS, A decade ago, 1% of these bacteria were resistant;
18now 4% are resistant, while one type has increased from 2% to
1910%; in all, more than 70 kinds of bacteria have developed
20carbapenem resistance; and
 
21    WHEREAS, CRE are spread by unclean hands, but medical

 

 

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1devices, such as ventilators or catheters, increase the risk of
2life-threatening infection, because they can introduce new
3bacteria into the blood stream; and
 
4    WHEREAS, CRE have high mortality rates and kill up to half
5of the people who get serious infections with them; CRE can
6also spread their resistance to other bacteria; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Information about the number of CRE infections is
8scarce, in part because only 6 states require health facilities
9to report cases; the Centers for Disease Control has tracked
10CRE from a single health care facility in 2001 to health care
11facilities in at least 42 states; therefore, be it
 
12    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
13NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
14we state our intent to raise public awareness about the
15antibiotic-resistant CRE germ that is becoming a growing threat
16to health facilities in the State of Illinois and urge the
17citizens of this State to become informed about this emerging
18risk; and be it further
 
19    RESOLVED, That we urge health facilities across the State
20to promote proper hand washing by health care workers, remove
21medical devices such as catheters as soon as possible, isolate
22patients who are infected or carry the bacteria, and make sure

 

 

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1that health workers are using protective gloves and gowns when
2touching patients with CRE; and be it further
 
3    RESOLVED, That we further urge health facilities to employ
4a "detect and protect" strategy, which involves identifying the
5presence of the organism and protecting other patients to
6prevent its spread.