title: Investigation of an outbreak of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) assay.
abstract: In this study, 122 isolates of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VREF) obtained from 103 patients over a four-year period in a London teaching hospital, were typed by a random amplified polymorphic DNA method. All the isolates exhibited high-level resistance to vancomycin (MIC 128-1024 mg/L), and were resistant to teicoplanin (32-256 mg/L). Nine RAPD types were distinguished by using a single primer. Clustering of certain types in time and space was noted. These results suggest that although several different strains of VREF were involved in this outbreak, cross-infection with individual types occurred on some wards. RAPD is a useful technique for the investigation of the epidemiology of VREF.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, UMDS, St. Thomas' Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: M I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Issack
authors.forename: E G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Power
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: French
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001483:Base Sequence; D002648:Child; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000382:microbiology*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D016984:Enterococcus faecium; D016908:Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique; D014640:Vancomycin
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D014640:Vancomycin