New Study Findings from University of Florida Illuminate Research in Glycopeptide Antibiotics (Persistence of Daptomycin-Resistant and Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci in Hospitalized Patients with Underlying Malignancies: A 7-Year Follow-Up...).

A recent study conducted at the University of Florida has found that vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) commonly colonize the gut of individuals with hematologic malignancies or undergoing hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) and may cause bacteremia. The study used whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and phylogenetic analyses to examine 82 clinical VRE strains isolated from patients with leukemia and HCT between 2015 and 2019. The researchers observed transmission of highly genetically related strains between rooms on the same or different floors, including a daptomycin-resistant (DR)-VRE strain identified in 2012. The study highlights the emergence and persistence of VRE strains, particularly DR-VRE, in the hospital and suggests that adding WGS to routine infection control measures may help identify potential horizontal VRE transmission, including multi-drug-resistant isolates. [Extracted from the article]