Q. Could you please explain vancomycin-resistant enterococcus? I was told is highly infectious and that I should wear gloves and a face mask when I clean up my husband.
My husband was diagnosed with it last week in a bout with diarrhea at the hospital and is currently experiencing muscle aches and joint aches and is severely weak at the moment. How much havoc in one’s health can these types of antibiotic-resistant bacteria cause?
A. I’m sorry to hear that you are having this problem, especially on top of the other problems your husband is having that caused him to be in the hospital in the first place.
Enterococcus is a family of bacteria commonly found in the intestines. Most members of this family don’t cause problems, but some do. Often the problem is limited to the intestines, with the primary symptom being diarrhea. However, these bacteria often produce chemical toxins that are absorbed into the bloodstream, causing flulike symptoms.
In addition, some of these disease-causing bacteria may get into the bloodstream themselves, causing infections in other parts of the body. Unfortunately, a common site for this to happen is the heart, which, as you may expect, can cause devastating consequences.
Vancomycin is an antibiotic that has been especially useful in the treatment of enterococcus infections that start in the hospital. This is because hospital-acquired infections are more likely to be resistant to the more commonly used antibiotics.
Unfortunately, more and more bacteria of all kinds, including the enterococcus, are mutating to new resistant strains, so that current antibiotics will no longer kill them. In fact, up to 20 percent of enterococcal infections acquired in the hospital are resistant to vancomycin.
This increased bacterial resistance to antibiotics is a problem of major worldwide proportions, and the trend is getting worse. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been publishing warnings about antibiotic use for many years.
A recent study by the CDC showed that 50 million of the 150 million non-hospital-based antibiotic prescriptions were not needed. In addition, millions of pounds of antibiotics are used in the food industry and end up in livestock and fruits. The more antibiotics in the environment, the more likely we are to kill off those bacteria for which the antibiotics work and leave behind those that are resistant.
In your situation, other antibiotics can be used, some of which are still under investigation. I presume your husband is getting the appropriate treatment with these newer antibiotics. In the meantime, you need to do all you can to prevent the spread to you or anyone else by strictly following the hospital staff’s recommendations.
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Write to Dr. Douma in care of the Chicago Tribune, Room 400, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611.
