Assessment of Testing for and Completeness of Reporting of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci—Connecticut, 1994

Abstract

From 1989 through 1993, the proportion of enterococcal isolates resistant to vancomycin (VRE) reported to CDC's National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (NNIS) system increased from 0.3% to 7.9% (1). Since January 1994, clinical laboratories in Connecticut have been required to report all sterile-site VRE isolates to the Connecticut Department of Public Health (CDPH) to determine the epidemiology of VRE infection in the state. In 1995, CDPH surveyed all clinical laboratories in the state to identify microbiologic methods used to determine antimicrobial susceptibility of enterococcal isolates and to assess the completeness of reporting in 1994. This report summarizes the survey findings and the assessment of reporting for VRE, which confirmed for the first time that VRE infections were occurring statewide in Connecticut.