First outbreak of colonization and infection with vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium in a tertiary care hospital in Singapore

Maciej Piotr Chlebicki; Moi Lin Ling; Tse Hsien Koh; Li Yang Hsu; Ban Hock Tan; Kue Bien How; Li-Hwei Sng; Grace Chee Yeng Wang; Asok Kurup; Mei Ling Kang; Jenny Guek Hong Low

doi:10.1086/507289

First outbreak of colonization and infection with vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium in a tertiary care hospital in Singapore

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2006 Sep;27(9):991-3. doi: 10.1086/507289. Epub 2006 Aug 22.

Authors

Maciej Piotr Chlebicki¹, Moi Lin Ling, Tse Hsien Koh, Li Yang Hsu, Ban Hock Tan, Kue Bien How, Li-Hwei Sng, Grace Chee Yeng Wang, Asok Kurup, Mei Ling Kang, Jenny Guek Hong Low

Affiliation

¹ Department of Internal Medicine, Singapore General Hospital, Outram Road, Singapore. pchlebicki@hotmail.com

PMID: 16941331
DOI: 10.1086/507289

Abstract

We report the first outbreak of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium colonization and infection among inpatients in the hematology ward of an acute tertiary care public hospital in Singapore. Two cases of bacteremia and 4 cases of gastrointestinal carriage were uncovered before implementation of strict infection control measures resulted in control of the outbreak.

MeSH terms

Adult
Aged
Disease Outbreaks*
Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field
Enterococcus faecium / isolation & purification
Enterococcus faecium / pathogenicity*
Female
Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / epidemiology*
Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / microbiology
Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / mortality
Humans
Singapore / epidemiology
Vancomycin Resistance*