The toilet as a transmission vector of vancomycin-resistant enterococci.
An elderly woman, admitted to the intensive care unit of a large university teaching hospital, was found to be colonized with vancomycin-resistant enterococci leading to the temporary closure of the unit. She had acquired the organism nosocomially, most likely from an environmental source, which had been contaminated when the toilet of a former patient, also colonized with vancomycin-resistant enterococci, had become blocked and overflowed throughout his and the adjoining room. This is the first report of a hospital toilet as the transmission vector for vancomycin-resistant enterococci.
Noble
M A
MA
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre, B.C., Canada.
Isaac-Renton
J L
JL
Bryce
E A
EA
Roscoe
D L
DL
Roberts
F J
FJ
Walker
M
M
Scharf
S
S
Walsh
A
A
Altamirano-Dimas
M
M
Gribble
M
M
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D001955:British Columbia; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000635:transmission*; D017931:DNA Primers; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D016983:Enterococcus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control; D008297:Male; D014038:Toilet Facilities; D014640:Vancomycin
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D017931:DNA Primers; D014640:Vancomycin