Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) are important hospital pathogens and have become increasingly common in patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). To determine the incidence and the risk factors associated with VRE colonisation among ICU patients, active surveillance cultures for VRE faecal carriages were carried out in patients admitted to the ICU of the University Hospital of ...

This retrospective study described the first reported vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) outbreak from June 2013 through January 2014 at a tertiary-care hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. After the index case was detected in an 18-bed medical intermediate care unit, a number of interventions was implemented, including targeted active surveillance for VRE, strict contact precautions, enhanced st...

Introduction / objectives Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), an important pathogen causing healthcare associated infection emerged and increased rapidly worldwide. Several measures have been implemented to control the spread of VRE. This study aimed to evaluate the impacts of the annual hand hygiene promotion program (HHPP) and the active VRE surveillance (AS) on VRE infection/colonization...

Introduction: Risk factors for Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) colonization are patient-related factors such as underlying disease or amount of prescribed antibiotics, and hospital-related factors such as duration of hospitalization, type of performed therapeutic procedures, and antibiotic prescription. This nested case control study was performed to determine risk factors of rectal VRE ...

The development of reliable and rapid methods for the identification of patients colonized with vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) is central to the containment of this agent within a hospital environment. To this end, we evaluated a prototype chromogenic agar medium (VRE-BMX; bioMérieux, Marcy l'Etoile, France) used to recover VRE from clinical specimens. This medium can also identify isol...

Background. VRE is an endemic hospital-acquired organism in the US. There are no proven methods or means of decreasing or eliminating carriage of VRE which is a risk factor for invasive disease. Two small clinical studies showed reduction or elimination of VRE colonization using the probiotic LGG but neither study cultured stool for the presence of LGG, raising questions about whether effects o...

OBJECTIVE To determine the occurrence of co-colonization or co-infection with VRE and MRSA among medical patients requiring intensive care. DESIGN Prospective, single-center, observational study. SETTING A 19-bed medical ICU in an urban teaching hospital. PATIENTS Adult patients requiring at least 48 hours of intensive care and having at least one culture performed for microbiologic evalu...

BACKGROUND The use of infection control measures in the management of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) is hotly debated. A risk-managed approach to VRE control after the introduction of 2 horizontal infection prevention measures-an environmental cleaning (EC) and an antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) program-was assessed. METHODS Routine screening for VRE was discontinued 6 and 4 months af...

BACKGROUND Patient-specific risk factors for acquisition of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) among hospitalized patients are becoming well defined. However, few studies have reported data on the institutional risk factors, including rates of antimicrobial use, that predict rates of VRE. Identifying modifiable institutional factors can advance quality-improvement efforts to minimize hospit...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether eating Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) in the form of commercially available yoghurt improves clearance of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). DESIGN Double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial. SETTING Renal ward of Austin Health, a tertiary hospital, Feb-Oct 2005. PARTICIPANTS 27 VRE-positive patients, 14 receiving active treatment and 13 contr...