The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy
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J. Antimicrob. Chemother. · Aug 2012
Intensive care unit dissemination of multiple clones of linezolid-resistant Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium.
Outbreaks caused by linezolid-resistant (LR) enterococci remain rare. We report the epidemiological and molecular characteristics of the multiclonal dissemination of LR enterococci in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a Greek hospital. ⋯ The multiclonal composition of LR enterococci indicates that linezolid resistance possibly occurred on several independent occasions. Its acquisition was often not related to linezolid administration; patients might have acquired their LR isolate from another patient that had received linezolid or, alternatively, resistance may have arisen by mutation that occurred independently.