Isolation of vancomycin-resistant enterococci in haematologic patients.

After the occurrence of septicaemia with a vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis strain in a patient, it was decided to determine the number of carriers of vancomycin-resistant cocci among haematologic patients. During a period of six months 135 stool samples from 25 children, and 400 samples from 70 adults were studied. All samples from the children were negative for vancomycin-resistant cocci. Nine of the adult patients had cultures positive for cocci, all identified as enterococci, which were highly resistant to vancomycin (MIC greater than 250 micrograms/ml), sensitive to amoxicillin, moderately resistant to gentamicin, slightly resistant to teicoplanin, and sensitive to daptomycin. None of these patients had been given vancomycin prior to the isolation of the vancomycin-resistant enterococci.