RESUMEN
The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of colonization with vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) among intensive care unit (ICU) patients in a hospital in Córdoba, Argentina. We collected 235 rectal swab specimens from 147 ICU patients. Resistance to vancomycin was screened with the disk diffusion method, and MICs were determined with the E-test method. Vancomycin-resistant genotypes were determined by PCR. The VRE strains were isolated from 18/147 patients (12.2%). The isolates were identified as Enterococcus faecium (94.4%), and Enterococcus gallinarum (5.6%). PCR showed that the E. faecium strains carried the vanA gene, and the E. gallinarum strain carried the vanC1 gene. Our study indicated that at least 12.2% of ICU patients were VRE carriers.