Carrier rate of resistant enterococci in a tertiary care hospital in Norway

The prevalence of resistant enterococci varies geographically. In the prese nt study we looked at the carrier rate of resistant enterococci in the hema tology and gastrointestinal surgery units of a tertiary care hospital in No rway. Anal swabs were taken from all 82 hospitalized patients on 4 differen t dates, at least 4 weeks apart, in 1995. 51% had positive cultures for ent erococci. 6% of all patients carried enterococci resistant to ampicillin. 7 % carried enterococci with high-level gentamicin resistance. Two strains re sistant to vancomycin were found, including the first vanA Enterococcus fae cium isolated in a Norwegian hospital. There was a correlation between use of antibiotics and being a carrier of enterococci per se, but the correlati on with resistant enterococci did not reach statistical significance owing to the small number of isolates. The carrier rates both for presence of ent erococci and for resistant enterococci were generally lower than those foun d in other studies.