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Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz
ISSN: 1678-8060
EISSN: 1678-8060
Vol. 93, No. 5, 1998, pp. 587-588
Bioline Code: oc98113
Full paper language: English
Document type: Research Article
Document available free of charge

Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Vol. 93, No. 5, 1998, pp. 587-588

 en Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci in Intensive Care Hospital Settings
Daren J Austin & Marc JM Bonten

Abstract

Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) have recently
emerged as a nosocomial pathogen and present an increasing threat
to the treatment of severely ill patients in intensive-care
hospital settings. We outline results of a study of the
epidemiology of VRE transmission in ICUs and define a
reproductive number R0; the number of secondary
colonization cases induced by a single VRE-colonized patient in a
VRE-free ICU, for VRE transmission. For VRE to become endemic
requires R0 >1. We estimate that in the
absence of infection control measures R0 lies
in the range 3-4 in defined ICU settings. Once infection control
measures are included R0=0.6, suggesting that
admission of VRE-colonized patients can stabilize endemic VRE.

Keywords
vancomycin resistance - transmission dynamics - epidemiology - infection control

 
© Copyright 1998 Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz - Fiocruz
Alternative site location: http://memorias.ioc.fiocruz.br

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