The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of the EVIGENE VRE Detection kit and compare it with PCR, considered the gold standard for detection of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). The correlation between the MIC values of vancomycin and teicoplanin using the epsilon test was also determined. In the EVIGENE VRE Detection kit, DNA probes specific for bacterial target DNA sequenc...

The view on enterococci has over the years shifted from harmless commensals to opportunistic but important pathogens mainly causing nosocomial infections. One important part of this development is the emergence of vancomycin resistance enterococci (VRE). The term VRE includes several combinations of bacterial species and resistance genes of which the most clinically important is Enterococcus fa...

BACKGROUND The goal of this study was to develop a validated prediction rule for identification of patients harboring vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) at hospital admission. METHODS A model for the prediction of patients harboring VRE at admission was created and validated by assigning weighted point values to independent risk factors associated with harboring VRE at admission, in 2 dif...

We analyzed surveillance cultures for vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) collected during a multicenter trial to determine if three negative cultures collected at weekly intervals would predict clearance of VRE or MRSA from colonized patients. Seventy-two percent of VRE-colonized patients and 94% of MRSA-colonized patients were culture ...

AIMS To investigate the survivability of vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) under dry starvation conditions and the fitness cost of vancomycin resistance. METHODS VRE colonies on cotton swabs were incubated at room temperature in a sterile box and cultured weekly until cultures no longer showed growth. Negative swabs inoculated into brain heart infusion (BHI) broth were subcultured to blo...

Technological advances in upper-limb prosthetic design offer dramatically increased possibilities for powered movement. The DEKA Arm system allows users 10 powered degrees of movement. Learning to control these movements by utilizing a set of motions that, in most instances, differ from those used to obtain the desired action prior to amputation is a challenge for users. In the Department of Ve...

OBJECTIVE To assess the co-colonization rates of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing bacteria and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) obtained on active surveillance cultures. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING Medical and surgical intensive care units (ICUs) of a tertiary-care hospital. PATIENTS Patients admitted between September 2001 and November 2002 to the med...

BACKGROUND Hospitals use contact precautions to prevent the spread of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). There is concern that contact precautions may have adverse effects on the safety of isolated patients. In November 2010, the infection control policy at an academic medical centre was modified, and contact precautions were discontinu...

background vancomycin resistant isolates of enterococcous faecium (vre) have previously been reported from tehran hospitals. however, little data were available on the genetic heterogeneity of vre isolates among the iranian population. therefore the emergence of infections with the new clones of vre needs to be investigated. the drug resistance surveillance program at labbafinejad hospital has ...