Isolation and epidemiological study of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium from patients of a haematological unit in Poland

Enterococcus faecium has recently emerged as a serious nosocomial pathogen. Vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) have been isolated in Europe and th e USA since 1988. this is the first report on isolation of vancomycin resis tant E. faecium (VREM) strains in Poland, from Haematological Unit patients in the Clinical Hospital in Gdansk. In total, 6412 samples were examined b etween December 1996 and October 1997. Five hundred and five isolates of En terococcus spp. were collected. One hundred and one were classified as Ente rococcus faecium of which 49 were resistant to vancomycin (MIC > 256 mg/L) and teicoplanin (MIC > 256 mg/L), characteristic of the VanA phenotype. Twe nty-nine patients were infected or colonized. A PCR-based specific diagnost ic assay confirmed the phenotype. The multiplex PCR-restriction fragment le ngth polymorphism patterns were consistent with VanA-type of vancomycin-res istant E. faecium for all isolates examined. These isolates were epidemiolo gically-related as shown by PCR-fingerprinting.