Prevalence of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VREF) in pig faeces from slaughterhouses in Spain

A study to estimate the prevalence of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus fae cium in faecal samples From pigs at slaughterhouses in Spain was carried ou t between November 1998 and January 1999 with 900 samples taken from four a battoirs representing 9.7% of all pig slaughtered in 1998. Using a selectiv e enrichment broth with vancomycin (8 mug/ml), 64 samples (7.1%; 95% CI: 5. 5, 9.0%) had E. faecium vancomycin-resistant strains that showed minimal in hibitory concentrations of 256 mug/ml (62 strains) and 512 mug/ml (two stra ins). Results by farm showed that 43 of the 240 pig farms represented in th e sampling had at least one faecal sample with vancomycin-resistant E. faec ium. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.