Rapid Detection Tool for Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus (VRE) Directly from Human Specimens

A new, simple, and one-step tool for the direct detection of vancomycin-resistant Enterocococcus (VRE) EPI-V® (Pilots Point LLC, Sarasota, FL) is presented. It contains all the ingredients in a unique stable powder form in a standard test tube. One only needs to add water, inoculate the specimen, and incubate. Specimens consisted of 553 sequential human rectal/perirectal swabs for VRE surveillance. The presence of VRE was denoted by the production of two sequential color changes corresponding to growth in bile-esculin and production of a positive PYR reaction. The EPI-V® tool was compared to reference VRE detection methods. EPI-V® showed a sensitivity of 102% and a specificity of 98.4% for the detection of VRE. The EPI-V® tool offers significant advantages: no skilled technologist time required, simple quality control, highly conserved incubator and refrigerator space, and low cost.