Case Report: A nosocomial infection caused by vancomycin resistant enterococcus

Abstract

Vancomycin resistant enterococcus (VRE) was recovered from the urine culture of a 61 years old female patient, who was being treated for sepsis, on the 15th day of hospitalization in Ondokuz Mayis University Hospital Infectious Disease Unit. The underlying diseases of this patient were chronic renal failure and diabetes mellitus. The patient died due to septic shock on the day of VRE isolation. Since this case was the first VRE infection in our hospital, a point prevalence study was planned. For this purpose, rectal swab samples collected from 10 patients from the same unit and 27 personnel who worked in the same unit, were screened for the presence of VRE. Nasal swabs and finger tip samples were also taken from the staff to determine if the transmission has occured in this way. As a result, a second VRE strain was isolated from another patient with chronic renal failure who was under treatment due to multiple pulmonary abscesses. Immediate isolation of this patient prevented a possible epidemic in this specific unit. In this report, the importance of VRE screening and isolation of the patients after the recovery of VRE has been emphasized.