Vancomycin-resistant enterococci [VRE] as normal flora of the intestine in patients at a tertiary care hospital

There has been a rapid increase in the incidence of infection and colonization with vancomycin-resistant enterococci [VRE] in American and European hospitals in the last six to seven years, with fecal carriage reported to be as high as 86% on some services. In order to determine the frequency of VRE as normal flora the intestine in Saudi patients, microbiological analysis of stool specimens from 4276 patients from a tertiary care referral hospital was performed. VRE, identified as Enterococcus f-aecium, was found in six patients None. of the patients had any clinical disease associated with VRE. Five were hospitalized patients, four with severe underlying diseases; five had a history of prior antimicrobial therapy with broad-spectrum antibodies and two of them were treated with vancomycin