Officials at a Charlottetown hospital reported seven new infections on Tuesday, two from a rare form of bacteria and five staph infections.

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital has reported a total of eight cases of vancomycin resistant enterococci, or VRE, since May. One patient with VRE remains in hospital, and the QEH said in a release that the patient would be discharged "shortly."

These cases mark the first infections of the bacteria discovered in P.E.I.

The hospital also reported five new cases of methicillin resistant staph aureus (MRSA) in one of its medical units. The QEH said in a release that the unit has been temporarily closed to admissions and swabbing and testing is underway to contain the bacteria.

Two of the five patients with MRSA remain in hospital.

Both VRE and MRSA are bacteria that have become resistant to common antibiotics.

Visitors and personnel at the QEH are being told to take extra care washing their hands and to use hand sanitizer more often to prevent further spread of the bacteria. Hand contact is the most common way for VRE to be transmitted.