Comparison of the Rodac imprint method to selective enrichment broth for recovery of vancomycin-resistant enterococci and drug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae from environmental surfaces

We compared the Rodac imprint technique to selective enrichment broth for detecting vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and multidrug-resistant Enterobactiaceae (MDRE) on surfaces. Rodac plates contained tryptic soy agar with 5% sheep blood, vancomycin (6 mug/ml), ceftazidime (2 mug/ml), amphotericin IS (2 mug/ml), and clindamycin (1 mug/ml). Two types of broth were used: brain heart infusion (BHI) and BHI plus vancomycin (6 mug/ml) and ceftazidime (2 mug/ml) (BHIVC). Of the 46 surfaces cultured for VRE, 12 (26%) sere positive. Of the 12 VRE-positive surfaces, 11 (92%) grew from Rodac, 8 (67%) grew from BHIVC, and 7 (58%) grew from BHI. A larger study is needed for MDRE, as only 4 of 43 surfaces were MDRE positive. The Rodac imprint technique successfully recovered VRE from environmental surfaces.