Symptoms of bloodstream infection are also not specific to VRE and can be the same as for other bacteria. Typically, signs and symptoms can include fever, shivering, and low blood pressure.
People carrying VRE in their bowel or other body sites show no signs or symptoms and it is impossible to tell if a person has VRE by looking at them. If infection is suspected then a doctor will take a swab or specimen of, for example, blood, or wound, or urine or sputum and send it to the laboratory for testing. People colonised with VRE do not need to have any treatment or antibiotics.
If VRE is found in a specimen taken from you while you are in hospital, your healthcare team will continue to provide the same level of care. However, some extra precautions will be taken:. Your family and friends can visit you but to prevent the spread of VRE to other patients or the environment, it is important that all visitors:. Good hand hygiene will help prevent your family and friends from getting VRE. You should always perform hand hygiene by washing your hands with soap and water:.
VRE can survive for long periods on environmental surfaces, for example toilets, table tops and chairs, so it is important to regularly clean your household. Your clothing can be washed in the usual manner, along with the rest of the household laundry. If you go to another healthcare facility, visit another doctor or have home care services, you should tell them that you have a VRE.
Early detection of people who carry VRE is essential to stop any spread. If someone has a history of being in a hospital or residential care facility outside of WA in the last 12 months, a specimen to screen for VRE either a stool sample or a rectal swab will be taken from them when they are admitted to hospital. Most often, VRE infections are spread from the hands of health care workers to a patient in a hospital or other facility such as a nursing home.
VRE infections are not usually spread through the air like the common cold or flu virus unless you have VRE pneumonia and are coughing, which is rare. If you are healthy, your chances of getting a VRE infection are very low. VRE infections typically only occur among people who have weakened immune systems , such as people who have long-term illnesses or people who have had major surgery or other medical procedures and have been treated with multiple antibiotics. Experts do not know exactly why some people become infected with VRE and others do not.
But they do know that VRE infections are more likely to develop when antibiotics such as vancomycin are used often. If you take antibiotics when you do not need them, they may not work when you do need them.
Each time you take antibiotics, you are more likely to have some bacteria that the medicine does not kill. These bacteria can change mutate so they are harder to kill. Then, the antibiotics that used to kill them no longer work. These bacteria are called antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The symptoms of a VRE infection depend on where the infection is. If VRE are causing a wound infection, that area of your skin may be red or tender. If you have a urinary tract infection , you may have back pain, a burning sensation when you urinate, or a need to urinate more often than usual.
Some people with VRE infections have diarrhea, feel weak and sick, or have fever and chills. If your doctor suspects that you are infected with VRE, he or she will send a sample of your infected wound, blood, urine, or stool to a lab. The lab will grow the bacteria and then test to see which kinds of antibiotics kill the bacteria. This test may take several days. If you get a serious infection with VRE, you may be isolated in a private hospital room to reduce the chances of spreading the bacteria to others.
VRE are most commonly found in healthcare settings such as nursing homes or hospitals, particularly in areas where there are people with weakened immune systems such as intensive care units or cancer or transplant wards. VRE can cause infections in patients and then spread to others when the patient is transferred to another facility or goes home. If you are healthy, your chances of getting sick from VRE are very low, even if you have been exposed to the bacteria.
But if you have a weakened immune system, that can be a very different story. How long you have a VRE infection can depend on how serious it is and how well it responds to treatment.
In the hospital setting, good basic hand hygiene by healthcare providers and use of gowns and gloves can also help decrease transmission, as can isolating patients who are identified as being high-risk for contracting VRE. If you or someone in your household has VRE, the following measures can help prevent the spread of infection:. Some other statistics that illustrate the scope of the problem and our need for continued mitigation:.
This page details important information about what VRE is and how we can protect ourselves from this and other antibiotic-resistant germs that threaten our health. This site from the U. National Library of Medicine offers essential information about who is at risk for VRE and how to prevent the spread of this potentially dangerous, even deadly bacteria.
Michigan Medicine. Additional reporting by Joseph Bennington-Castro. By subscribing you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Health Topics. How can you avoid getting an infection? If you or someone in your household has VRE, you can protect yourself by: keeping your hands clean to avoid getting sick and spreading germs that can cause infections patients and their caregivers should wash their hands with soap and water or use alcohol-based hand sanitizer, particularly: after using the bathroom before and after handling medical devices or caring for wounds before preparing food frequently cleaning areas of the home, such as bathrooms, that may become contaminated with VRE wearing gloves if hands may come in contact with body fluids that may contain VRE, such as stool poop or bandages from infected wounds Always wash your hands after removing gloves.
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