Quarterly Report
Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci (VRE) Bacteraemia
Third Quarter 2011
September 2011 - December 2011
Number of new cases of healthcare associated infection = 0
Number of patient days = 11,645
Infection rate = 0/11,645 x 1,000 = 0
VRE Rate Calculation
The method of calculation of the VRE bacteraemia infection rate for the reporting period (on a quarterly basis) is:
Number of nosocomial patients with laboratory identification of VRE bacteraemia x 1000
Total number of patient days
Where the numerator is the total number of newly identified cases for VRE bacteraemia associated with the reporting facility, for the reporting period. The denominator is the total number of in-patient days for the reporting period. There are no exclusion criteria.
What is Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE)?
Enterococci are bacteria that are normally present in the human intestines and in the female genital tract and are often found in the environment. These bacteria can sometimes cause infections. Vancomycin is an antibiotic that is often used to treat infections caused by enterococci. In some instances, enterococci have become resistant to this drug and thus are called vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). VRE have a minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) to vancomycin of ≥ 32 mcg/ml. They contain the resistance genes VAN-A or VAN-B.
What are the risk factors for VRE?
Risk factors for VRE include severity of underlying illness, presence of invasive devices, prior colonization with VRE, antibiotic use and length of hospital stay.
What does hospital-acquired mean?
Sometimes when patients are admitted to the hospital, they can get infections. This is a hospital-acquired infection. In the case of VRE, this may mean that symptoms begin 72 hours after admission to the hospital.
How is VRE transmitted?
The single most important mode of transmission of VRE in a health care setting is via transiently colonized hands of health care workers who acquire it from contact with colonized or infected patients, or after handling contaminated material or equipment. The unrecognized colonized patient presents a particular risk for transmission to other patients.