Vol.52 No.11 November 2004
Analysis of vancomycin-resistant enterococci detected in our hospital
1)Clinical Laboratory Center and 2)Department of Pharmacy, Gunma University Hospital,
3-39-15 Showa-machi, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan
Abstract
Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) was first isolated in our hospital from a sputum specimen from an inpatient in August 2002. Subsequently, VRE was also isolated from a fecal specimen in another patient in February 2003. The former strain exhibited an MIC of 8 μ g/mL for vancomycin (VCM), and the latter strain exhibited an MIC of 16 μ g/mL. Another strain with an MIC of 4 μ g/mL was isolated from the latter patient after the cessation of VCM treatment. All three strains grew in a VRE-selection medium and were demonstrated to have the van B gene. The MIC increased when the strain with an MIC of 4 μ g/mL was cultured in VCM-supplemented medium, indicating the induction of VCM resistance. These results suggest that routine laboratory tests might not detect the presence of VRE with the van B gene, which has a MIC.
Key word
vancomycin-resistant enterococci, van B
Received
June 29, 2004
Accepted
October 20, 2004
Jpn. J. Chemother. 52 (11): 660-663, 2004
