[Vancomycin and high-level aminoglycoside resistant Enterococcus carriage and the risk factors related to resistance in hospitalized patients].

The aims of this study were to detect the prevalence of fecal vancomycin resistant Enterococcus (VRE) colonization with high-level resistance to aminoglycoside and other antibiotics and, the risk factors related to resistance in hospitalized patients in Düzce Medical Faculty Hospital, Turkey. A total of 105 patients (61 from internal medicine, 44 from surgery clinics; 54.3% female, mean age: 47.2 +/- 24.54 years) were included to the study and a single stool sample was collected from each of the patients. Specimens were cultivated in Enterococcus selective media (BioMerieux, France), and the isolates were identified by conventional microbiological methods together with the API 20 Strep test. Beta-lactamase activities of the isolates were tested with nitrocefin disk, and antibiotic susceptibilities were determined by the disk diffusion method. Enterococcus spp. were isolated from 81 (77%) of the patients' samples and 60.5% were identified as E. faecium, 13.6% as E. faecalis, 11.1% as E. gallinarum, 7.4% as E. durans, 2.5% as E. raffinosus, 2.5% as E. mundtii, 1.2% as E. casseliflavus, and 1.2% as E. avium. High-level streptomycin and gentamicin resistance rates were found in 19.8% and 9.9% of the isolates, respectively. The resistance rates for the other antibiotics were found as follows; 18.5% to ampicillin, 27.2% to penicilin, 34.6% to nitrofurantoin, 65.4% to norfloxacin, and 70.4% to both tetracycline and ciprofloxacin. No vancomycin resistance was detected, and none of the enterococci had beta-lactamase activity. Long hospitalization period, antibiotic usage and experience of intra-abdominal operation were found as the significant risk factors for colonization of the resistant bacteria. Our results demonstrated that there was no fecal VRE carriage in our hospital during the study period, however, it was concluded that the screening tests should be done periodically in order to detect resistant strains as soon as possible.