Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci

In Alberta, Canada, the rate of hospital-acquired vancomycin-resistant enterococci bloodstream infections remained consistent regardless of patient risk, even in units that changed or discontinued screening protocols, according to a study.

Stopping contact precautions for MRSA and vancomycin-resistant enterococci did not lead to a major increase in either infection at five Texas hospitals, researchers reported at the SHEA Spring Conference.

Using electronic health records, researchers showed that connection through health care workers to patients colonized with vancomycin-resistant enterococci, or VRE, is a significant risk factor for VRE acquisition among uncolonized patients.

Hospitals that discontinued contact precautions saw an associated increase in vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, or VRE, bloodstream infections in comparison with hospitals where these precautions were maintained, according to findings published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Moving patients from a hospital with mostly ward-type rooms to a new hospital with exclusively private rooms appeared to be associated with a sustained decrease in the rates of new MRSA colonization and vancomycin-resistant enterococci, or VRE, colonization and infection, according to findings published in JAMA Internal Medicine. However, researchers reported that the move was not associated with a reduction in MRSA infection or Clostridioides difficile infection.

Among the top stories in infectious disease last week were findings from the HOPE trial that determined the dapivirine vaginal ring reduced the risk for HIV infection by an estimated 39% and a study that indicated a novel hospital cleaning bundle that improved cleaning thoroughness and reduced vancomycin-resistant enterococci infections by 37% is also cost-effective.

A novel hospital cleaning bundle that has been shown to improve cleaning thoroughness and reduce vancomycin-resistant enterococci infections by 37% is also cost-effective, according to newly published study results.

Whole-genome sequencing, or WGS, surveillance identified an outbreak of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium infections that was linked to nonsterile preparation of injectable contrast medium for interventional radiology procedures, researchers reported in Clinical Infectious Diseases.