Management of a hospital-wide vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium outbreak in a Dutch general hospital, 2014-2017: successful control using a restrictive screening strategy

BACKGROUND: The emergence of vancomycin resistant enterococci poses a major problem in healthcare settings. Here we describe a hospital-wide outbreak of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium in a general hospital in The Netherlands in the period December 2014-February 2017. Due to late detection of the outbreak, a large cohort of approximately 25,000 (discharged) patients was classified as 'VRE suspected'. Hereupon a mitigated screening and isolation policy, as compared with the national guideline, was implemented to control the outbreak. METHODS: After the outbreak was identified, a scree... Mehr ...