Risk of transmission of carbapenem-resistantEnterobacteriaceaeand related “superbugs” during gastrointestinal endoscopy

To evaluate the risk of transmission of carbapenemresistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) and their related superbugs during gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy.Reports of outbreaks linked to GI endoscopes contaminated with different types of infectious agents, including CRE and their related superbugs, were reviewed.Published during the past 30 years, both prior to and since CRE's emergence, these reports were obtained by searching the peer-reviewed medical literature (via the United States National Library of Medicine's "MEDLINE" database); the Food and Drug Administration's Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience database, or "MAUDE"; and the Internet (via Google's search engine).This review focused on an outbreak of CRE in 2013 following the GI endoscopic procedure known as endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, or ERCP, performed at "Hospital X" located in the suburbs of Chicago (IL; United States).Part of the largest outbreak of CRE in United States history, the infection and colonization of 10 and 28 of this hospital's patients, respectively, received considerable media attention and was also investigated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which published a report about this outbreak in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly