Study of clonality of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci (VRE) bacteremia by conventional gel electrophoresis (CGE). 695

Enterococci are a common cause of nosocomial infections and could be difficult to treat because of resistance to many antibiotics including vancomycin. Restriction of vancomycin usage and strict infection control measures have reduced but have not eliminated bacteremia episodes at MMC. CGE was shown previously to be a highly discriminatory method for study of non-VRE strains (Hall L, J Clin Microbiol 1992).