bSens.CARBA

1.27 million

In 2019, bacterial antimicrobial resistance was associated with 4.95 million deaths worldwide, of which 1.27 million were attributable to resistance. Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae and Acinetobacter baumannii each caused between 50,000 and 100,000 of these attributable deaths. ¹

41.1%

In Brazil's public antimicrobial resistance surveillance network, which receives mainly bacteria already resistant to carbapenems, the detection rate of the NDM carbapenemase gene in Enterobacterales grew by an average of 41.1% a year between 2015 and 2022. The KPC gene was found in 68.6% of the Enterobacterales tested for it. ²

216,000

Among gram-negative bacteria, resistance to carbapenems showed the largest rise in deaths of any antibiotic class from 1990 to 2021. Deaths attributable to it rose from about 127,000 to 216,000 over the period, according to global estimates. ³

In the 2024 WHO Bacterial Priority Pathogens List, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales are in the critical group, the highest priority category. Among 24 pathogens scored on 8 criteria, carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae ranked first. ⁴

In 2017 and 2018, two studies showed that the CRISPR enzymes Cas13a and Cas12a, once they recognize a target genetic sequence, start cutting other RNA or single-stranded DNA molecules indiscriminately. Combined with isothermal amplification, this effect gave rise to nucleic acid detection methods. ^5,6

A 2011 review describes the worldwide spread of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae, such as KPC, NDM and OXA-48 producers. According to the authors, detecting infected patients and carriers is necessary to prevent this spread; carbapenemase genes are identified mostly with molecular techniques, and carriers can be detected with screening culture media. ⁷