Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci in Fecal Samples from Hospitalized Patients and Non- Hospitalized Individuals in Gaza City.

Aims: Despite the use of vancomycin in Gaza, there are no available data concerning resistance against it. The study was carried out in order to determine the occurrence of vancomycin resistant enterococci ( VRE in Gaza City. subjects and methods: One hundred hospitalized patients from the medical and surgical intensive care unit ( ICU , pediatric ICU, renal units and hemato-oncology wards at Al Shifa and Al Naser hospitals wee screened for VRE fecal colonization. In addition, 100 non-hospitalized individuals from all over Gaza City were screened. Specimens were enriched and cultured on selective media for the isolation of enterococci. All isolates were idintified, and their minimum inhibitory concentration for vancomycin was determined. The suscepetibilities of the enterococci to vancomycin and other common antibodies were determined by the risk diffusion method. Results: Enterococci were found in 94% of the hospitilized patients and in 89% of non-hospitalized individuals. VRE were isolated from 69.1% and 43.8% of hospitalized and non-hospitalized individiuals, respectively. High rates of resistance to common antimicrobials used in human medicine were observed E. faecalis was observed to be predominant species recoverd among non-hospitilized individuals ( 34% , while among hospitalized patients, E. faecalis was the pedominant identified species ( 37% . Among both hospitalized patients and non-hospitalized individuals, E. faecalis has the highest resistant rate to vancomycin. Conclusion: Enterococci were isolated from both hospitalized and non-hospitalized subjects in Gaza City, who have high rates of antibodies resistance, including against vancomycin. Strategies to promptly identify colonized patients should be designed and implemented in hospitals