PMID- 11595985
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20020117
LR  - 20061115
IS  - 1058-4838 (Print)
IS  - 1058-4838 (Linking)
VI  - 33
IP  - 10
DP  - 2001 Nov 15
TI  - Prolonged colonization with vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium in 
      long-term care patients and the significance of "clearance".
PG  - 1654-60
AB  - Little is known about the persistence of colonization with vancomycin-resistant 
      Enterococcus faecium (VRE) in the nononcologic, non-intensive care unit patient. 
      We studied all patients who had VRE isolated on > or =2 occasions of > 1 year 
      apart (Study A) and those who had been "cleared" of VRE colonization after 3 
      negative stool cultures (Study B). Twelve patients had stored VRE isolates 
      recovered > 1 year apart (Study A), and 58% of paired isolates were genotypically 
      related according to pulsed field gel electrophoresis patterns. In Study B, stool 
      samples were obtained weekly from 21 "cleared" patients for 5 weeks, which 
      revealed that 24% were VRE positive. For these culture-positive patients, 72% of 
      the cultures failed to detect VRE. Recent antibiotic use was significantly more 
      common in the culture-positive patients, as compared with culture-negative 
      patients (P=.003). Colonization with VRE may persist for years, even if the 
      results of intercurrent surveillance stool and index site cultures are negative. 
      Cultures for detection of VRE in stool samples obtained from patients declared 
      "cleared" are insensitive.
FAU - Baden, L R
AU  - Baden LR
AD  - Division of Infectious Disease, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA 
      02115, USA. lbaden@partners.org
FAU - Thiemke, W
AU  - Thiemke W
FAU - Skolnik, A
AU  - Skolnik A
FAU - Chambers, R
AU  - Chambers R
FAU - Strymish, J
AU  - Strymish J
FAU - Gold, H S
AU  - Gold HS
FAU - Moellering, R C Jr
AU  - Moellering RC Jr
FAU - Eliopoulos, G M
AU  - Eliopoulos GM
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20011010
PL  - United States
TA  - Clin Infect Dis
JT  - Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases 
      Society of America
JID - 9203213
RN  - 0 (Culture Media)
SB  - IM
MH  - Culture Media
MH  - Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field
MH  - Enterococcus faecium/classification/*drug effects/*growth & development/isolation 
      & purification
MH  - Feces/microbiology
MH  - Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections/epidemiology/*microbiology
MH  - Hospitals, Veterans
MH  - Humans
MH  - Long-Term Care
MH  - Microbial Sensitivity Tests/methods
MH  - Vancomycin Resistance/*genetics
EDAT- 2001/10/12 10:00
MHDA- 2002/01/18 10:01
CRDT- 2001/10/12 10:00
PHST- 2001/01/30 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2001/05/29 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2001/10/12 10:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2002/01/18 10:01 [medline]
PHST- 2001/10/12 10:00 [entrez]
AID - CID010153 [pii]
AID - 10.1086/323762 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Clin Infect Dis. 2001 Nov 15;33(10):1654-60. doi: 10.1086/323762. Epub 2001 Oct 
      10.