Infection control and hospital epidemiology : the official journal of the Society of Hospital Epidemiologists of America
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Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · Nov 1997
Epidemiological study of hospital-acquired infection with vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium: possible transmission by an electronic ear-probe thermometer.
Clonal spread of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium among seven patients on one ward of a community teaching hospital was identified by contour-clamped homogeneous electric-field gel electrophoresis. Environmental cultures isolated the same strain from the handle of a shared electronic ear-probe thermometer. Cross-contamination of the clonal strain between two geographically separate units on this ward, sharing equipment but not personnel, suggests the possibility of an environmental source.