Accuracy of the VITEK 2 system to detect glycopeptide resistance in enterococci

We evaluated the accuracy of the VITEK 2 fully automated system to detect and identify glycopeptide-resistant enterococci (GRE) compared to a reference agar dilution method. The sensitivity of vancomycin susceptibility testing with VITEK 2 for the detection of vanA, vanB, and vanC1 strains was 100%. The sensitivity of vancomycin susceptibility testing of vanC2 strains was 77%. The sensitivity of teicoplanin susceptibility testing of vanA strains was 90%. Of 80 vanC enterococci, 78 (98%) were correctly identified by VITEK 2 as Enterococcus gallinarum/Enterococcus casseliflavus. Since the identification and susceptibility data are produced within 3 and 8 h, respectively, VITEK 2 appears a fast and reliable method for detection of GRE in microbiology laboratories.