Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci (VRE) (cont.)
What should I do if I think I have VRE?
Talk with your healthcare provider and get medical care.
If a patient in a facility is colonized or infected with VRE, what do their visitors or family members need to know?
In general, healthy people are at low risk of getting infected with VRE.
Therefore, casual contact, such as kissing, hugging, and touching, is generally
safe. Visitors should wash their hands before leaving an infected person's room.
Also, wear disposable gloves if you anticipate contact with body fluids. If
excessive contact with body fluids is expected, wear a gown. It is also
acceptable for infants and children to have casual contact with these patients.
What precautions should caregivers take when tending to infected persons in their homes?
Outside of healthcare settings, there is little risk of becoming infected
with VRE. In the home, the following precautions should be taken:
- Caregivers should wash their hands with soap and water after physical contact
with the infected or colonized person, and before leaving the home.
- Towels used for drying hands after contact should be used only once.
- Disposable gloves should be worn if contact with body fluids is expected, and
hands should be washed after removing the gloves.
- Linens should be changed and washed on a routine basis, and if they are
soiled.
- The patient's environment should be cleaned routinely, and when soiled with
body fluids.
- Notify doctors and other healthcare personnel, who provide care for patients,
if an individual is colonized or infected with a multidrug-resistant organism.
SOURCE: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases, National
Institutes of Health
Last Editorial Review: 5/29/2008
- clindamycin-oral, Cleocin - Consumer information about the medication CLINDAMYCIN - ORAL (Cleocin), includes side effects, drug interactions, recommended dosages, and storage information. Read more about the prescription drug CLINDAMYCIN - ORAL.
- Liver Transplant - Information on liver transplant, the tests required, finding a match, complication, antirejection medications, and the follow-up necessary.
- Urinary Tract Infection (UTI In Adults) - Learn about urinary tract infection causes, symptoms, signs, diagnosis and treatment of UTIs in men and women. Antibiotics may be used to treat recurrent bladder infections.
Latest Medical News
Infectious Disease RSS