Appearance of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci(VRE) on Sore Wound: A case report.

Jang, Ho; Yoo, Seog Keun; Cho, Ju Won; Yoo, Young Cheun

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons 2000;27(5):562-564.
Published online September 1, 2000.

Appearance of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci(VRE) on Sore Wound: A case report.

Ho Jang, Seog Keun Yoo, Ju Won Cho, Young Cheun Yoo

¹Department of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, College of Medicine, Wonkwang University.
²Department of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, College of Medicine, Kyunghee University.

Abstract

Enterococcus is a gram positive coccus and a normal flora in gastrointestinal tract, but it could raise opportunistic infection. In 1986, vancomycin resistant enterococcus(VRE) was reported in Europe at first. Recently, the incidence is increasing in USA and Korea(2~8%). In our hospital, sore and stool cultures for enterococcal identification were carried out on 4 patients with sore wound. By screening stool culture, VRE was detected in 3 of 4 pressure sore patients. VRE was also identified from the sore wound in 2 of 3 patients who had VRE positive in screening stool culture. 2 of 4, enterococcal positive patients, have the history of vancomycin use in the past. An increasing number of VRE infection in hospital suggest that VRE become an important cause of infected pressure sore. Therefore, culture of sore wound and stool for the identification of VRE should be performed routinely.

Keywords: VRE(vancomycin-resistant enterococcus); Pressure Sore