Superbug Growing Concern | Video

Amy Fox | 3/6/2013

The Center for Disease Control says there`s a growing concern about a so-called superbug that`s showing up at health care centers all over the country. Hospitals and nursing homes in the Minot area are trying to prevent the disease from spreading.

It`s called CRE bacteria, and like E. coli, it can develop during long-term hospital and nursing home stays. But, the infections are difficult to treat.

The germs develop a resistance against even the strongest of antibiotics. And, as Trinity Hospital Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Casmiar Nwaigwe explains, this can happen very quickly.

"As people get sicker, we use more antibiotics to try and treat them because they are sicker,” said Dr. Nwaigwe. “And, the more of those antibiotics we use and the more of the treatment we use, the bacteria that is colonized or infected, we have to figure out a way of overcoming those things. And, then, we use new antibiotics and eventually bacteria figures out that`s the natural order of things."

In 2012, the North Dakota State Health Department said there were 15 reported cases of CRE infections in the state.

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