VRE Rate Reporting
The VRE bacteraemia infection rate is calculated as a rate per 1,000 patient days.
The “total patient days” represents the sum of the number of days during which services
were provided to all inpatients during the given time period.
The rate is calculated as follows:
Number of new hospital acquired (HA) cases of VRE in our facility x 1000 divided by Total number of patient days (for one month)
Bacteraemia is the presence of bacteria in the blood. The blood is normally a sterile environment, so the detection of bacteria in the blood (most commonly with blood cultures) is always abnormal.
| Number of new cases of VRE bacteraemia | % Rate of HA VRE bacteraemia infection | |
| September 1 - November 30, 2008 | 0 | 0% |
| December 1st - March 31, 2009 | 0 | 0% |
| April 1 - June 30, 2009 |
0 | 0% |
| July 1 - Sept. 30, 2009 |
0 | 0% |
| October 1 - December 31, 2009 | 0 | 0% |
| January 1 - March 31, 2010 | 0 | 0% |
| April 1 - June 30. 2010 | 0 | 0% |
What is VRE?
Enterococci are bacteria that are normally present in the human intestines and in the female genital tract and are often found in the environment. These bacteria can sometimes cause infections. Vancomycin is an antibiotic that is often used to treat infections caused by enterococci. In some instances, enterococci have become resistant to this drug and thus are called vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). VRE have a minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) to vancomycin of = 32 mcg/ml. They contain the resistance genes VAN-A or VAN-B.
What causes VRE?
Enterococci bacteria in lower intestine and/or possibly other areas (e.g., urine, blood, skin) may cause an infection and resist Vancomycin antibiotic (people may carry the bacteria without having symptoms). Risk factors for VRE acquisition include severity of underlying illness, presence of invasive devices, prior colonization with VRE, antibiotic use and length of hospital stay.
How does VRE spread?
The spread of VRE occurs through contact. The bacteria can live on surfaces for five days to weeks and on hands for several hours. The bacteria are relatively easy to kill with disinfectants (provided the bacteria are in contact with the disinfectant for a long enough period) and good hand hygiene.