Rapid Detection Tool for Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus (VRE) Directly from Human Specimens ()
ABSTRACT
A new, simple, and one-step tool for the direct
detection of vancomycin-resistant Enterocococcus (VRE) EPI-V® (Pilots Point LLC, Sarasota, FL) is presented. It
contains all the ingredients in a unique stable powder form in a standard test
tube. One only needs to add water, inoculate the specimen, and incubate. Specimens
consisted of 553 sequential human rectal/perirectal swabs for VRE surveillance.
The presence of VRE was denoted by the production of two sequential color
changes corresponding to growth in bile-esculin and production of a positive
PYR reaction. The EPI-V® tool was compared to reference VRE
detection methods. EPI-V® showed a sensitivity of 102% and a specificity of 98.4% for the
detection of VRE. The EPI-V® tool offers significant advantages: no
skilled technologist time required, simple quality control, highly conserved
incubator and refrigerator space, and low cost.
Share and Cite:
Edberg, S. (2014) Rapid Detection Tool for Vancomycin-Resistant
Enterococcus (VRE) Directly from Human Specimens.
Advances in Microbiology,
4, 835-838. doi:
10.4236/aim.2014.412092.
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