This study from the ICARS-supported I-CRECT project investigated CRE carriage in hospitalised children in Vietnam. Researchers screened 376 children at a provincial paediatric hospital in the Red River Delta during a one-day survey in August 2022, assessing the prevalence of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) and factors associated with carriage.
CRE were detected in 28.2% of children screened. Carriage was more common among children screened more than 48 hours after admission, reaching 40.8% among those hospitalised for at least seven days. The highest ward-level prevalence was in intensive care, where 14 of 18 children carried CRE.
The findings support targeted screening and stronger infection prevention and control, particularly in intensive care and neonatal wards. As a single-hospital snapshot, the study measured carriage rather than infection and could not establish when individual children acquired the bacteria. It provides baseline evidence for the wider I-CRECT project investigating approaches to reduce CRE transmission across hospitals, households, communities, domesticated animals and the environment.
