Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology · 8 authors, 6 centres
This summary was generated by AI from a single paper. It has not been reviewed by a clinician and is not clinical advice. Verify against the source before acting on it.
This retrospective cohort study followed 46 infants colonized with VRE-fm after a NICU outbreak to determine how long carriage lasts. The central result was that the estimated time for half of the infants to clear carriage was 217 days, and all 40 infants who completed follow-up cleared carriage by one year.
This retrospective cohort study examined 46 infants colonized with VRE-fm after a monoclonal outbreak in a neonatal intensive care unit. Stool samples were tested periodically after discharge using both standard culture and PCR methods to detect the vanA and ddl genes. The primary outcome was time to clearance of carriage, defined as two consecutive negative tests. The estimated median time to clearance, based on both methods, was 217 days, while clearance based on culture alone was estimated at 113 days. All 40 infants who completed follow-up cleared carriage by one year. Limitations include the retrospective design, non-uniform testing intervals, and potential for false-positive PCR results. The findings suggest that infants cleared VRE-fm carriage within a year of diagnosis, which can inform parental counseling and infection control practices.
