Investigation of an outbreak of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)
M I Issack1, E G Power, G L French
1Department of Microbiology, UMDS, St. Thomas' Hospital, London, UK.
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.
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