title: The toilet as a transmission vector of vancomycin-resistant enterococci.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre, B.C., Canada.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Noble
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Isaac-Renton
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Bryce
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Roscoe
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Scharf
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Walsh
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Altamirano-Dimas
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gribble
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D017931:DNA Primers; D014640:Vancomycin