An approximately 60-kb transferable, vanB-carrying plasmid has been identified in a clinical Enterococcus faecium strain. A similar plasmid has been observed in an unrelated E. faecium strain, suggesting that plasmid transfer of vanB operons occurs in nature and plays a role in the dissemination of VanB-type resistance among strains of E. faecium.

Resistance to various levels of vancomycin and susceptibility to teicoplanin in enterococci (VanB phenotype) is mediated by the vanB gene cluster. VanB-type resistance was transferred by intra- and inter-specific conjugation between different strains of Enterococcus. Analysis of SfiI-digested genomic DNA by zero integrated-field electrophoresis followed by Southern hybridization revealed vanB-c...

Enterococci with resistance to glycopeptides have recently emerged in Australia. We developed multiplex PCR assays for vanA, vanB, vanC1, and vanC2 or vanC3 in order to examine the genetic basis for vancomycin resistance in Australian isolates of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium and E. faecalis (VRE). The predominant genotype from human clinical E. faecium isolates was vanB. The PCR va...

In a recently published article, Peltroche-Llacsahuanga and colleagues (2) compared the performance of two chromogenic media, i.e., chromID VRE (bioMérieux, Marcy l’Etoile, France) and CHROMagar VRE (Chromagar, Paris, France). Screening 259 stool samples for vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), they detected a total of 55 vancomycinresistant Enterococcus faecium isolates, 54 of them harborin...

Background Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), particularly Enterococcus faecium (VREfm), can cause serious nosocomial infections, and have been responsible for healthcare-associated outbreaks. Spreading of VREfm occur both clonally by the dissemination mobile genetic elements. Aim To report prospective analysis whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data, including core-genome multi-locus sequence ...

BACKGROUND Enterococci are a major cause of healthcare-associated infection. In Australia, vanB vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) is the predominant genotype. There are limited data on the factors linked to vanB VRE bacteraemia. This study aimed to identify factors associated with vanB VRE bacteraemia, and compare them with those for vancomycin-susceptible enterococci (VSE) bacteraemia. ...

The presence of Enterococcus-associated vancomycin resistance genes vanA, vanB, vanD, vanE, and vanG in rectal swabs was investigated in two hospitals using PCR. All vanA genes detected were associated with vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), whereas VRE-associated vanB genes were detected in only one hospital (4.7%). However, in both hospitals, high prevalences of vanB (6.2 and 2.3%), vanD...