Jpn. J. Infect. Dis., 65 (1), 57-60, 2012
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Sae Yoon Kee1, Cheong Won Park2, Ji Eun Lee3, Young Joo Kwon4, Heui Jung Pyo4, Western Dialysis Physical Association, Woo Joo Kim5, and Hee Jin Cheong5*
1Department of Internal Medicine, Konkuk University School of Medicine, Seoul; 2Howon Hospital, Ansan; 3Division of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine, Wonkwang University, Jeonbuk; and 4Division of Nephrology and 5Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
(Received May 18, 2011. Accepted October 12, 2011)
*Corresponding author: Mailing address: Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Korea University Guro Hospital, 97 Guro Dong-Gil, Guro Gu, 152-703 Seoul, Korea. Tel: +82-2-2626-3051, Fax: +82-2-866-1643, E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
SUMMARY: Stool specimens and data were obtained from 399 outpatients undergoing hemodialysis (HD) in order to estimate the colonization rate of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and to determine risk factors for VRE acquisition. The prevalence of VRE colonization in outpatients ranged from 0%–22.2%. Risk factors associated with VRE colonization were high hierarchy of hospital, short duration of HD, recent hospitalization, prior use of antimicrobial products, high platelet count, and low hemoglobin/albumin/blood urea nitrogen/creatinine levels, showing that VRE colonization was more common in patients with prior infections and poor nutritional status. Although pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis showed that most VRE isolates had diverse patterns, 2 paired cases from separate hospitals presented identical PFGE types.