Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus

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SEM micrograph of vancomycin-resistant enterococci.
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SEM micrograph of vancomycin-resistant enterococci.

Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus (VRE) is a group of bacterial species of the genus Enterococcus which are resistant to the antibiotic Vancomycin. Enterococci are enteric, and can be found in the digestive and urinary tracts of some humans. VREs were discovered in 1985[1] and are particularly dangerous to immunocompromised individuals. VRE have an enhanced ability to pass the resistance genes to other bacteria; while infection of healthy individuals is uncommon, it is possible that they could be colonized with newly-resistant bacteria.

VRE can be carried by healthy people who have come into contact with the bacteria. The most likely place where such contact can occur is in a hospital (nosocomial infections), although it is thought that a significant percentage of intensively farmed chicken also carries VRE.[2],[3]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dixson S, Brumfitt W, Hamilton-Miller JM (1985). "In vitro activity of six antibiotics against multiresistant staphylococci and other gram-positive cocci". Eur J Clin Microbiol 4 (1): 19-23. PubMed.
  2. ^ Harwood VJ, Brownell M, Perusek W, Whitlock JE (2001). "Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus spp. isolated from wastewater and chicken feces in the United States". Appl Environ Microbiol 67 (10): 4930-3. PubMed.
  3. ^ Cox LA Jr, Popken DA (2004). "Quantifying human health risks from virginiamycin used in chickens". Risk Anal 24 (1): 271-88. PubMed.

[edit] External links

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