Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T00:34:53.226Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Epidemiology of Enterococci in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Jennifer Duchon
Affiliation:
College of Physicians, Surgeons of Columbia University
Philip Graham III
Affiliation:
College of Physicians, Surgeons of Columbia University NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, New York
Phyllis Della-Latta
Affiliation:
College of Physicians, Surgeons of Columbia University
Susan Whittier
Affiliation:
College of Physicians, Surgeons of Columbia University
Diane Carp
Affiliation:
College of Physicians, Surgeons of Columbia University NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, New York
David Bateman
Affiliation:
College of Physicians, Surgeons of Columbia University
Lisa Saiman*
Affiliation:
College of Physicians, Surgeons of Columbia University NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, New York
*
622 West 168th Street, PH4W-470, New York, NY 10032 ([email protected])

Abstract

We performed an epidemiological investigation of a 62-bed neonatal intensive care unit in response to 2 infants with clinical cultures positive for vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). Surveillance cultures detected 11 infants colonized with VRE. Surveillance triggered by even a single clinical culture positive for VRE may be justified in the neonatal intensive care unit, because a single culture result may represent a large hidden reservoir of VRE-colonized infants.

Type
Concise Communications
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Malik, RK, Montecalvo, MA, Reale, MR, et al.Epidemiology and control of vancomycin-resistant enterococci in regional neonatal intensive care unit. Pediatr Infect Dis J 1999;18:352356.Google Scholar
2.McNeely, DF, Saint-Louis, F, Noel, GJ. Neonatal enterococcal bacteremia: an increasingly frequent event with potentially untreatable pathogens. Pediatr Infect Dis J 1996;15:800805.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Furtado, GH, Mendes, RE, Pignatari, ACC, Wey, SB, Medeiros, EAS. Risk factors for vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis bacteremia in hospitalized patients: an analysis of two case-control studies. Am J Infect Control 2006;34:447451.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4.Fridkin, SK, Edwards, JR, Courval, JM, et al.The effect of vancomycin and third-generation cephalosporins on prevalence of vancomycin-resistant enterococci in 126 U.S. adult intensive care units. Ann Intern Med 2001;135:175183.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5.Huh, JY, Lee, WG, Jin, HY. Molecular characterization of vancomycin-resistant enterococci from clinical and surveillance specimens. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2006;27:10761080.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6.Clinical Laboratory and Standards Institute. Performance standards for antimicrobial susceptibility testing: 16th informational supplement. Wayne, PA: Clinical Laboratory and Standards Institute; 2006:M100S16.Google Scholar
7.Tenover, FC, Arbeit, RD, Goering, RV, et al.Interpreting chromosomal DNA restriction patterns produced by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis: criteria for bacterial strain typing. J Clin Microbiol 1995;33:22332239.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8.Feja, KN, Wu, F, Roberts, K, et al.Risk factors for candidemia in critically ill infants: a matched case-control study. J Pediatr 2005;147:156161.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9.Rupp, ME, Marion, N, Fey, PD, et al.Outbreak of vancomycin- resistant Enterococcus faecium in a neonatal intensive care unit. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2001;22:301303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Golan, Y, Doron, S, Sullivan, B, Snydman, DR. Transmission of vancomycin-resistant enterococcus in a neonatal intensive care unit. Pediatr Infect Dis J 2005;24:566567.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Singh, N, Léger, MM, Campbell, J, Short, B, Campos, JM. Control of vancomycin-resistant enterococci in the neonatal intensive care unit. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2005;26:646649.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12.Cook, H, Cimiotti, J, Delia-Latta, P, et al.Antimicrobial resistance patterns of colonizing flora on nurses' hands in the neonatal intensive care unit. Am J Infect Control 2007;35:231236.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed