Japanese Society for Infection Prevention and Control-Online Journal

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A Single-center Retrospective Study of VRE Outbreak Cases at Shizuoka Cancer Center-Examination of Risk Factors for VRE Acquisition-

Nana AKAZAWA¹⁾, Naoya ITOH²⁾, Norihiko TERADA³⁾ and Hanako KURAI¹⁾
¹⁾Division of Infectious Diseases, Shizuoka Cancer Center Hospital, ²⁾Division of Infectious Diseases, Aichi Cancer Center Hospital, ³⁾Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Tsukuba Hospital

Background: Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) can cause outbreaks through contact transmission. In this study, we experienced a VRE outbreak in a cancer center in Japan. Herein we report for the first time the VRE transmission pathway and risk factors for VRE acquisition in a cancer center.
Methods: After identifying the first case of VRE, stool screening for VRE and multifaceted infection-control were implemented in the entire ward. To determine risk factors for VRE acquisition, we conducted a case-control study comparing VRE-positive and -negative patients.
Results: Of the 177 patients who underwent screening tests, 13 were positive for VRE, of whom 9 (69.2%) were male and 4 (30.7%) were female. The age range was 52-83 years (median, 67.0), and all patients had solid tumors. Only one patient was treated for VRE infection, and no deaths due to VRE infection were reported.
Conclusion: In our study, "diaper use" was a risk factor for VRE acquisition. It is important to thoroughly implement infection control measures, primarily hand hygiene and use of personal protective equipment, as well as environmental cleaning to terminate an outbreak.

Key words：Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci (VRE), VRE outbreak, solid tumor, infection control

e-mail: nanazo_7zo＠yahoo.co.jp

Received: January 11, 2022
Accepted: March 31, 2022

37 (4)：128─135,2022