Rates of vancomycin-resistant enterococci bloodstream infections have remained relatively low in Canada. We recently observed an increase of 113% in these infections rates, which coincided with emergence of Enterococcus faecium pstS-null sequence type 1478. The proportion of this sequence type increased from 2.7% to 38.7% for all tested isolates from 2013-2018.
Keywords: Canada; Enterococcus faecium; ST1478; antimicrobial resistance; bacteria; emergence; enterococci; pstS-null vancomycin-resistant clone; sequence type; vancomycin.