Effect of parenteral antibiotic administration on the establishment of colonization with vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium in the mouse gastrointestinal tract

A mouse model of intestinal colonization with vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) was used to study the effect of different beta-lactam antibiotics on establishment of VRE colonization. A clinical VanB VRE isolate, Enterococcus faecium C68 (10(2) or 10(4) cfu), was inoculated by gastric gavage in conjunction with subcutaneous administration of antibiotics. The MIC of ceftriaxone and ticarcillin against VRE strain C68 is >10,000 mu g/mL, and the MIC of piperacillin is 1250 mu g/mL. Ceftriaxone and ticarcillin-clavulanate treatment groups developed persistently high levels of stool VRE compared with both the saline and the piperacillin-tazo-bactam (Pip-Taz) groups (P < .008). The level of stool VRE in the Pip-Taz group did not differ from that for the saline group. Thus, in this mouse model, beta-lactam antibiotics with minimal anti-enterococcal activity promoted establishment of high-level VRE colonization, but Pip-Taz (a beta-lactam antibiotic with more potent activity against VRE) did not.