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Epidemiological study of hospital-acquired infection with vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium: possible
R Porwancher1, A Sheth, S Remphrey
1St Francis Medical Center, Trenton, NJ 08629, USA.
Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology
|December 16, 1997
Abstract:
Clonal spread of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium among seven patients on one ward of a community teaching hospital was identified by contour-clamped homogeneous electric-field gel electrophoresis. Environmental cultures isolated the same strain from the handle of a shared electronic ear-probe thermometer. Cross-contamination of the clonal strain between two geographically separate units on this ward, sharing equipment but not personnel, suggests the possibility of an environmental source.