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Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci in Stool Specimens Submitted for Clostridium difficile Cytotoxin Assay

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Mary Ellen Rafferty ,
Malkanthie I. McCormick ,
Lawrence H. Bopp ,
Aldona L. Baltch ,
Mary George ,
Raymond P. Smith ,
Carol Rheal ,
William Ritz  and
Diana Schoonmaker
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Abstract

The prevalence of, and clinical risk factors associated with, vancomycin-resistant enterococcal colonization were investigated in patients suspected of having Clostridium difficile infection. Stools submitted for C difficile cytotoxin testing were screened for vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). Isolates were speciated and characterized further by antibiotic susceptibility testing, DNA fingerprinting, and DNA:DNA hybridization for detection of specific vancomycin resistance genes. Of the 79 evaluable patients identified during a 3-month period, 16.5% were VRE-positive. The VRE isolates were genetically heterogeneous, although all carried the vanA gene. DNA fingerprinting data suggest that patient-to-patient transmission occurred, implicating colonized patients as potential reser voirs for VRE transmission. A positive C difficile cytotoxin assay and diabetes mellitus were the only identifiable risk factors associated with VRE colonization. Patients at risk for C difficile infection therefore may serve as reser voirs for VRE.

Type
Concise Communications
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 18 , Issue 5 , May 1997 , pp. 342 - 344
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1997

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