Rapid monitoring of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium in hospital departments by repetitive element palindromic polymerase chain reaction

Spread of predominantly detected vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium was limited to the department level with no evidence for wider dissemination within the hospital. Well-standardized and validated (semi-)automated rep-PCR systems are useful for rapid detection of possible VRE transmission. However, suspected transmissions need to be confirmed by clinical and microbiological parameters.