RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Rapid screening of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) is very important for controlling and preventing the spread of VRE in hospitals. We compared the performance characteristics of a chromogenic agar (ChromID VRE, bioMerieux, France: CA) to that of Enterococcosel agar (supplemented with 6 microgram/mL of vancomycin :EA) for direct detection of VRE from stool swabs. METHODS: Total 125 rectal swabs were collected from 57 patients in the intensive care units of an 850-bed university hospital over a period of 3 months. The samples were inoculated on EA, CA and into broth enrichment containing 6 microgram/mL of vancomycin (BE). BE was subcultured on CA after overnight incubation. RESULTS: Eighty two samples from 22 patients were positive for VRE by BE. At 24 h, the sensitivity/specificity of EA and CA were 89%/100% and 72%/100%, respectively. At 48 h, the sensitivity/specificity of EA and CA were 94%/89% and 89%/100%, respectively. CONCLUSION: CA provides equivalent sensitivity comparable to EA for the recovery of VRE at 48 h incubation, and has additional advantage of being able to differentiate between vancomycine resistant E. faecium and E. faecalis.