[Epidemiological aspects of the occurrence of vancomycin-resistant enterococci]

This descriptive study was conducted in a public hospital from May 2005 to October 2007, with the purpose to determine the epidemiological aspects that involve vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and describe the evolution of patients. The data was obtained from registers on patient records and then processed in SPSS. Frequency distribution and measures of central tendency were used. A total 122 patients participated of the study, the majority were males with an average age of 43 years (SD = 18.8), and 16.3% developed VRE infection. Vancomycin has been the most used antibiotic (62.3%), 97.5% used invasive procedures, 45.0% were dependent on intensive care nursing, 77.9% had at least one open wound and 50.8% progressed to death. The data suggests that recommendations for bacterial resistance control should be encouraged to reduce mortality, morbidity, hospital costs and thus provide better quality care to patients.