When you are discussing VRE, are you talking of
genus Enterococcus, or are you differentiating
Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium?
Multiresistant Enterococcus faecium is an upcoming
problem in Sweden, but the isolates are still
generally vancomycin-sensitive.
At our lab, we have recently inroduced a plate
containing the carbohydrate arabinose and a pH
indicator, which gives a good separation between
the two species. This has proven to be of value for
monitoring purposes, as we are quite active in
alerting the wards if we find multiresistant
E.faecium in the urine or wound specimens of
hospitalized patients.
*****************************************
* Dr. Ingvar Eliasson, M.D., Ph.D. *
* Dept. Clinical Microbiology *
* County Hospital *
* S-391 85 Kalmar, Sweden *
* *
* Phone:..... +46-480-448772 *
* Fax:....... +46-480-81738 *
* Internet:.. Ingvar.Eliasson at alinks.se *
*****************************************
>I mean that 6% of all enterococci being isolated
>are vancomycin resistant. And, yes, we are in the
>process of sending several isolates out for
>genetic testing.
>--
>Kate Black
>rcblack at oeonline.com>ac415 at detroti.freenet.org>73241.53 at compuserve.com
