Vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) are a real problem. The incidence of
VRE will vary from institution to institution. A summary of the magnitude and
impact of VRE may be found in Federal Register as follows:
Department of Health and Human Services. Preventing the spread of vancomycin
resistance--Report from the hospital infection control practices advisory
committee. Federal Register, 59(No.94):25758-25763, Tuesday May 17, 1994.
Following is an excerpt from the introduction of that report:
From 1989 through 1993, the percentage of nosocomial enterococcal
infections reported to the CDC National Nosocomial Infections Survelliance
(NNIS) System that were resistant to vancomycin increased from 0.3% to 7.9%.
The increase was due mainly to a 34-fold rise, from 0.4% to 13.6% of infections
due to VRE in intensive care unit (ICU) patients, although atrend towards
increased vancomycin resistance was also noted in non-ICU patients.
This is an interesting report with a good bibliography. Hope this helps.
wbueschi at magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
William Buesching
Ohio State University Medical Center
310 Doan Hall
Columbus, OH 43210
