Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) is a group of bacteria with resistance to powerful carbapenem antibiotics such as meropenem. They’re also usually resistant to various other antibiotics, which makes them a big concern because treatment options are very limited, and unfortunately the rate of CPE infections in people is increasing rapidly. To treat them, physicians typically need to use one of the limited number of other powerful antibiotics that may still be effective, but the more we have to use these limited drugs, the more resistance to them we’re going get. It’s a cascading problem.

CPE are predominantly an issue in humans, but they can cause infections in animals too, and in a lot of cases the CPE is likely spread from humans to animals. Regardless of the source in each case, the more widely these resistant bacteria are found, the greater the risk they pose to both people and animals.

The US CDC’s Emerging Infectious Disease journal has posted a podcast on this topic, following up on a recently published study entitled Genetically Similar High-Risk Strains of Carbapenemase-Producing Enterobacterales in Humans and Companion Animals, United States (Xiaoli et al. 2026). Unfortunately, I think we’re going to hear more about CPE in animals in coming years. Information on CPE cases in people in Ontario is available from Public Health Ontario.