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Epidemiology of Enterococci in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Jennifer Duchon
Affiliation:
College of Physicians, Surgeons of Columbia University
Philip Graham III
Affiliation:
College of Physicians, Surgeons of Columbia University NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, New York
Phyllis Della-Latta
Affiliation:
College of Physicians, Surgeons of Columbia University
Susan Whittier
Affiliation:
College of Physicians, Surgeons of Columbia University
Diane Carp
Affiliation:
College of Physicians, Surgeons of Columbia University NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, New York
David Bateman
Affiliation:
College of Physicians, Surgeons of Columbia University
Lisa Saiman*
Affiliation:
College of Physicians, Surgeons of Columbia University NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, New York
*
622 West 168th Street, PH4W-470, New York, NY 10032 (LS5@columbia.edu)

Abstract

We performed an epidemiological investigation of a 62-bed neonatal intensive care unit in response to 2 infants with clinical cultures positive for vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). Surveillance cultures detected 11 infants colonized with VRE. Surveillance triggered by even a single clinical culture positive for VRE may be justified in the neonatal intensive care unit, because a single culture result may represent a large hidden reservoir of VRE-colonized infants.

Type
Concise Communications
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2008

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