THE TOILET AS A TRANSMISSION VECTOR OF VANCOMYCIN-RESISTANT ENTEROCOCCI

An elderly woman, admitted to the intensive care unit of a large unive rsity teaching hospital, was found to be colonized with vancomycin-res istant enterococci leading to the temporary closure of the unit. She h ad acquired the organism nosocomially, most likely from an environment al source, which had been contaminated when the toilet of a former pat ient, also colonized with vancomycin-resistant enterococci, had become blocked and overflowed throughout his and the adjoining room. This is the first report of a hospital toilet as the transmission vector for vancomycin-resistant enterococci.