Prevention of possible vancomycin resistant enterococcus outbreak caused by infants transferred due to earthquake-trauma.

Abstract

Infection control measures are disrupted due to the large number of patients admitted in a very short time, in the early post-earthquake period. Inter-hospital or intra-hospital transfers can cause the spread of resistant bacteria. We reported the possible outbreak and its prevention caused by vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE) strains carried by infants transferred from another unit to our neonatal intensive care unit after the earthquake. Screening cultures (rectal swab) were obtained from infants on admission and patients were kept in contact isolation. We studied the clonal analysis of VRE strains isolated from patients by Pulse Field Gel Electroforesis.