Enterococcus faecium Obtained from Surveillance Cultures of the Stool of the Patients with Hematological Malignancies

Surveillance cultures of the stool were obtained from 55 patients with hematological malignancies, who have been receiving norfloxacin or tosufloxacin during their neutropenic periods, from May, 1991 to September, 1992. Cultures were performed using 5% blood agar with piperacilin 300μg/ml and amikacin 20μg/ml and bacteriae resistant to these antibiotics were analyzed further. Thirty-four over 55 patients were positive for enterococci and 22 strains of 23 examined were Enterococcus faecium. They are resistant to quinolones, aminoglycosides, cephalosporines and penicillines but not to vancomycin. Eighteen of them were also resistant to high-dose gentamicin. Appropriate measures should be used to prevent intrahospital spread of these resistant isolates.