Changed epidemiology during intra and interhospital spread of high-risk clones of vanA-containing Enterococcus in Brazilian hospitals

- Changes in epidemiology of VRE in Brazilian hospital have been investigated.
- The intra and interhospital spread of high-risk clones of VRE is highlighted.
- An increase in the prevalence of vanA-containing E. faecium CC17 was confirmed.

We report changes in the molecular epidemiology of vanA-containing Enterococcus during the intra and interhospital spread of high-risk clones, in Southeastern Brazil. While VRE faecalis predominated during 1998 to 2006, a reversal has been observed in the last years, where VRE faecium belonging to ST114, ST203, ST412, ST478 and ST858 have become endemic.