New Screening Method to Detect Carriage of Carbapenemase-Producing Enterobacteriaceae in Patients Within 24 Hours

Rapid identification of patients colonized with carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) is essential to prevent introduction and the spread of CPE in the hospital. This article presents the results of a new screening method to detect patients colonized with CPE within 24 h after hospital admission. From high-risk patients rectal and throat swabs were collected and incubated overnight, after which DNA was isolated and tested for the most prevalent CPE genes (KPC, NDM, OXA-48, VIM and IMP) by a ligationmediated real-time polymerase chain reaction. In 14 months 454 patients were screened; in six patients CPE were detected (carriage rate 1.3%).