Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae: Frequency of Hospital Room Contamination and Survival on Various Inoculated Surfaces

Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) only contaminated the environmental surfaces of rooms housing CRE colonized/infected patients infrequently (8.4%) and at low levels (average, 5.1 colonyforming units [CFU]/120 cm(2) per contaminated surface). Three species of CRE (Klebsiella, Enterobacter, and Escherichia) survived poorly (>85% die-off in 24 hours) when similar to 2 log(10) CFU were inoculated onto 5 different environmental surfaces.