Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci in Intensive Care Hospital Settings

Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci in Intensive Care Hospital Settings

Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) have recently emerged as a nosocomial pathogen and present an increasing threat to the treatment of severely ill patients in intensive-care hospital settings. We outline results of a study of the epidemiology of VRE transmission in ICUs and define a reproductive number R0; the number of secondary colonization cases induced by a single VRE-colonized patient in a VRE-free ICU, for VRE transmission. For VRE to become endemic requires R0 >1. We estimate that in the absence of infection control measures R0 lies in the range 3-4 in defined ICU settings. Once infection control measures are included R0=0.6, suggesting that admission of VRE-colonized patients can stabilize endemic VRE.

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Main Authors: Austin,Daren J, Bonten,Marc J M
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde 1998
Online Access:http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02761998000500005
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spelling oai:scielo:S0074-027619980005000051998-10-14Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci in Intensive Care Hospital SettingsAustin,Daren JBonten,Marc J M vancomycin resistance transmission dynamics epidemiology infection control Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) have recently emerged as a nosocomial pathogen and present an increasing threat to the treatment of severely ill patients in intensive-care hospital settings. We outline results of a study of the epidemiology of VRE transmission in ICUs and define a reproductive number R0; the number of secondary colonization cases induced by a single VRE-colonized patient in a VRE-free ICU, for VRE transmission. For VRE to become endemic requires R0 >1. We estimate that in the absence of infection control measures R0 lies in the range 3-4 in defined ICU settings. Once infection control measures are included R0=0.6, suggesting that admission of VRE-colonized patients can stabilize endemic VRE.info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessInstituto Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da SaúdeMemórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz v.93 n.5 19981998-09-01info:eu-repo/semantics/articletext/htmlhttp://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02761998000500005en10.1590/S0074-02761998000500005
institution SCIELO
collection OJS
country Brasil
countrycode BR
component Revista
access En linea
databasecode rev-scielo-br
tag revista
region America del Sur
libraryname SciELO
language English
format Digital
author Austin,Daren J
Bonten,Marc J M
spellingShingle Austin,Daren J
Bonten,Marc J M
Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci in Intensive Care Hospital Settings
author_facet Austin,Daren J
Bonten,Marc J M
author_sort Austin,Daren J
title Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci in Intensive Care Hospital Settings
title_short Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci in Intensive Care Hospital Settings
title_full Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci in Intensive Care Hospital Settings
title_fullStr Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci in Intensive Care Hospital Settings
title_full_unstemmed Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci in Intensive Care Hospital Settings
title_sort vancomycin-resistant enterococci in intensive care hospital settings
description Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) have recently emerged as a nosocomial pathogen and present an increasing threat to the treatment of severely ill patients in intensive-care hospital settings. We outline results of a study of the epidemiology of VRE transmission in ICUs and define a reproductive number R0; the number of secondary colonization cases induced by a single VRE-colonized patient in a VRE-free ICU, for VRE transmission. For VRE to become endemic requires R0 >1. We estimate that in the absence of infection control measures R0 lies in the range 3-4 in defined ICU settings. Once infection control measures are included R0=0.6, suggesting that admission of VRE-colonized patients can stabilize endemic VRE.
publisher Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde
publishDate 1998
url http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02761998000500005
work_keys_str_mv AT austindarenj vancomycinresistantenterococciinintensivecarehospitalsettings
AT bontenmarcjm vancomycinresistantenterococciinintensivecarehospitalsettings
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