Oxoid has launched a range of products for the isolation and presumptive identification of vancomycin resistant enterococci and high level aminoglycoside resistant enterococci
Since the first isolation in London in 1986, vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) have emerged as a significant public health concern.
For example, the incidence of enterococcal bacteraemia caused by vancomycin resistant E faecium in England and Wales has risen from 6.3% in 1993 to 24% in 1998.
Enterococci are now among the commonest organism causing hospital acquired infections. Vancomycin resistance in enterococci has coincided with the increasing prevalence of high level aminoglycoside resistant enterococci (HLARE).
This acquired resistance, alongside innate resistance to many other antibiotics, makes it difficult to treat patients with infections caused by these resistant enterococci. There is also a potential that genetic material for vancomycin resistance could be spread from enterococci to other Gram-positive organisms including Staphylococcus aureus or S epidermidis.
Methicillin resistant S aureus (MRSA) are already a substantial problem for hospitals.
The addition of vancomycin resistance in MRSA would make them very difficult to treat with current antibiotics.
Screening patients for the VRE and HLARE is the one of the recommendations in monitoring and preventing the spread of these organisms within high-risk areas.
Many variations of selective media and enrichment broths have been described. Most have been adapted from methods using media originally designed for other applications and therefore are not optimised for screening purposes.
Oxoid has produced a range of culture media and single antibiotic supplements developed specifically for the isolation and presumptive identification of VRE and HLARE from clinical specimens.
