Molecular characterization of clinical and environmental isolates of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus faecalis from a teaching hospital in Wales.

The present study describes the first molecular characterization of environmental and clinical isolates of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) in Wales. Over a 3-month period (May-July 2000), 134 isolates of VRE (89 Enterococcus faecium and 45 Enterococcus faecalis) were isolated from the patient environment of the University Hospital of Wales (UHW) in Cardiff, Wales, UK. In addition, over the same time-period, 24 clinical isolates of VRE (20 isolates of E.