Rate of colonization of health care workers by carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae in an endemic hospital: A prospective study.

The role of health care workers in transmission of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) has not been evaluated thoroughly. We sought to determine the rate of fecal carriage of CRE among health care workers in our hospital, which is endemic for CRE (prevalence of 19 out of 800 beds and incidence of 128 out of 49,325 hospital admissions). We found no carriers among the 177 health care workers that participated in the study, suggesting that transmission does not occur through personnel gastrointestinal carriage of the bacteria.