Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) in New Zealand, 2022 Background

Compared to data in 2021, both the number of CPE and the number of patients CPE were isolated from increased. [...] Number of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) isolates identified in New Zealand, by carbapenemase class, each year from 2013 to 2022 Note: Multiple, distinct CPE isolates from the same patient are included, but duplicate isolates of the same species with the same type(s) of carbapenemase(s) from the same patient are excluded. [...] Twenty-one patients were thought to have acquired their carbapenemase genes in the Indian subcontinent, four in the Western Pacific, two in other parts of Asia, one in the Eastern Mediterranean, one in Europe, one in Africa, and one in either the Indian subcontinent or other parts of Asia. [...] 4 One isolate with NDM-1 from a patient that travelled to Africa, two isolates with NDM-5 from a patient that was hospitalised in the Indian subcontinent and in Singapore, and one isolate with OXA-244 from a patient that travelled to the Eastern Mediterranean, and one isolate with KPC-3 from a patient that travelled to Europe. [...] This increase is likely to be attributable to the re-opening of the New Zealand border following restrictions imposed to control the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and supports the theory that most of the CPE identified in New Zealand have originated overseas.