Epidemiological and bacteriological trends from 2013 to 2023 of carbapenemase-producing enterobacterales (CPE) in a French university hospital: A permanent risk of outbreak

CPE detection in the hospital was associated mainly with epidemic spread involving a variable number of secondary cases. CPE patients detected incidentally (without specific infection control measures) several days after hospital admission, repatriates and patients with a history of hospitalization abroad are at high risk of in-hospital CPE spread. The number of outbreaks did not decrease during the study period, and more generally, the number of secondary cases tends in some uncontrolled situations to increase, particular when CPE- positive patients are transferred or rehospitalized.