Rectal vancomycin-resistant enterococcus colonization before admission to neonatal intensive care unit

Aim: Vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) colonization is an important issue for healthcare recipients. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of VRE colonization in patients at the admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study the medical records of patients who hospitalized to NICU between January 2010 to December 2019 were analyzed. At the admission, patients whose rectal cultures were detected as VRE colonization were evaluated for demographic characteristics for the risk factors of colonization. Results: One thousand three hundred twenty-three patients were admitted to our NICU from different centers were enrolled. Rectal VRE colonization was observed in 60 of 1323 (4.54%) patients. Sixty-five percent (39/60) of patients with rectal VRE colonization had no previous hospitalization history. Among these 60 patients 28 of them were admitted to our NICU in the first week of their life. Conclusion: Although hospitalization still remains an important risk factor for VRE colonization, we found that there is also a high rate of VRE colonization in newborns without a history of hospitalization or frequent outpatient admissions to pediatrics departments. That is a worrisome status that suggests that colonization may be developed in low risk areas of the hospital such as delivery room, operating room or recovery room.