Enterococcus faecium on Oxoid Brilliance Chromogenic VRE Agar. An example of medium used for VRE screening. Suspicious colonies are investigated further by determining the actual MIC of vancomycin.

Vancomycin is an important antibiotic as it is the last "common" antibiotic active against most gram positive organisms. Once an organism acquires resistance to vancomycin, the antimicrobial arsenal is greatly limited in what can be used to fight an infection.

If you want to learn more about vancomycin resistance and the paradox of vancomycin dependence in enterococci please visit Yuri's blog.