Abstract :
Background and Aims: Enterococci are second most commonly isolated hospital-acquired pathogen
from urinary tract and wounds. Being notorious organism enterococci has presented treatment challenges
resulted in newer drug development followed by resistance development in segments; such as Vancomycin.
Present study aims at detecting prevalence, distribution and susceptibility patterns of Vancomycin Resistant
Enterococci (VRE) found in clinical isolates.
Materials and Methods: A descriptive study was carried out in the Microbiology department of Tertiary
care hospital,Western India including a total of 36,027 clinical isolates received in the duration over 2 years
from indoor patients across disciplines. Enterococci were recognized by standard biochemical tests. Antimicrobial
susceptibility testing was done as per CLSI guideline. VRE was distinguished by disc diffusion
method and Minimum Inhibitory Concentration Test. Qualitative data were presented as proportions.
Results: On susceptibility testing, the prevalence of VRE was found out to be 11.13%. Maximum number
of VRE isolates were from Urine (49.06%), followed by blood culture (32.08%), and swab (5.66%). Among
VRE; 56.6% isolates were E. Faecium followed by other enterococcus (35.85%) and E. Faecalis (7.55%)
respectively. Highest resistance was found for penicillin, ampicillin and levofloxacin, while most sensitive
were linezolid and fosfomycin.
Conclusion: Considering versatile ability to advance and transmit antimicrobial resistance, VRE
represents a bottle neck in treatment strategies. Rational prescription of antibiotic, VRE surveillance and
timely antibiogram in admitted cases is the need of hour.
Keyword :
Prevalence, Vancomycin resistant enterococci, Western India.