Comparative Study of Selective Chromogenic (chromID VRE) and Bile Esculin Agars for Isolation and Identification of vanB-Containing Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci from Feces and Rectal Swabs

The new chromogenic agar chromID VRE (cIDVRE; bioMerieux) was compared with bile esculin agar (BD) containing 6 mg/liter vancomycin for the detection of colonization with vanB-containing vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). At 48 h of incubation, the results obtained with both media were comparable. However, cIDVRE detected significantly more VRE at 24 h (39.3% versus 21.3%, P = 0.003), and its use may facilitate the timely implementation of infection control procedures.