EMERGENCE AND DISSEMINATION OF A HIGHLY VANCOMYCIN-RESISTANT VANA STRAIN OF ENTEROCOCCUS-FAECIUM AT A LARGE TEACHING HOSPITAL

We prospectively identified patients at the Massachusetts General Hosp ital from whom vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) were isolated fr om a clinical specimen from 1 January 1991 through 31 December 1995. V RE strains were available from 139 (82%) of the 169 patients with clin ical cases. Of these, 39 (28%) were identical or closely related by pu lsed-field gel electrophoresis (i.e., VRE type A strain), including 38 (43%) of 89 VRE strains in 1995. By multivariate analysis, acquisitio n of the VRE type A strain was associated with receipt of clindamycin (odds ratio [OR] = 10.5), 15 or more days of hospitalization before th e first isolation of VRE (OR = 2.9), and residence on one of the gener al medical floors (OR = 7.8). The VRE type A strain was a vanA strain of Enterococcus faecium and was highly resistant to all antimicrobial agents tested except chloramphenicol. These findings document the rapi d dissemination of a highly resistant strain of E. faecium among patie nts and among other extant VRE strains at the Massachusetts General Ho spital in 1995.