Abstract

Ability of clinical laboratories to detect antimicrobial agent-resistant enterococci. F C Tenover , J Tokars , J Swenson , S Paul , K Spitalny and W Jarvis Nosocomial Pathogens Laboratory Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia 30333. ABSTRACT To test the ability of clinical laboratories to detect antimicrobial resistance among enterococci, we sent four vancomycin-resistant enterococcal strains and one beta-lactamase-producing enterococcus to all 93 nongovernment, hospital-based clinical laboratories in New Jersey; 76 (82%) participated in the study. Each organism was tested by the laboratory's routine antimicrobial susceptibility testing method. The proportion of laboratories that correctly reported that an isolate was resistant to vancomycin varied according to the resistance level of the isolate: high-level resistance (MIC for Enterococcus faecium = 512 micrograms/ml), 96% of laboratories correct; moderate-level resistance (MIC for E. faecium = 64 micrograms/ml), 27% correct; low-level resistance (MIC for Enterococcus faecalis = 32 micrograms/ml), 16% correct; and intrinsic low-level resistance (MIC for Enterococcus gallinarum = 8 micrograms/ml), 74% correct. The beta-lactamase-producing E. faecalis isolate was identified as resistant to penicillin and ampicillin by 66 and 8% of laboratories, respectively, but only three laboratories recognized that it was a beta-lactamase producer. This survey suggests that many laboratories may fail to detect antimicrobial agent-resistant enterococci. CiteULike Connotea Delicious Digg Facebook Google+ Mendeley Reddit StumbleUpon Twitter What's this? « Previous | Next Article » Table of Contents This Article J. Clin. Microbiol. July 1993 vol. 31 no. 7 1695-1699 » Abstract PDF A correction has been published Classifications Research Article Services Email this article to a colleague Similar articles in ASM journals Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of JCM Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Load citing article information Citing articles via Web of Science Citing articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Tenover, F. C. Articles by Jarvis, W. Search for related content PubMed PubMed citation Articles by Tenover, F. C. Articles by Jarvis, W. Related Content Load related web page information Social Bookmarking CiteULike Connotea Delicious Digg Facebook Google+ Mendeley Reddit StumbleUpon Twitter What's this? current issue December 2011, volume 49, issue 12 Alert me to new issues of JCM About JCM Subscribers Authors Reviewers Advertisers Inquiries from the Press Permissions & Commercial Reprints ASM Journals Public Access Policy JCM RSS Feeds 1752 N Street N.W. • Washington DC 20036 202.737.3600 • 202.942.9355 fax • journals@asmusa.org Print ISSN: 0095-1137 Online ISSN: 1098-660X Copyright © 2011 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to JCM .asm.org, visit: http://intl- JCM .asm.org | More Info» var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-5821458-10"); pageTracker._trackPageview();