Little is known about vancomycin-resistant enterococci in China. Thirteen pulsed-field gel electrophoresis-confirmed heterogeneous VanA-type vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE) isolates were obtained from five Chinese hospitals from 2001 to 2005. The isolates were typed by multilocus sequence typing into nine different sequence types (STs), including five new STs (ST18, ST25, ST78, ...

background and objectives: infection with vancomycin-resistant enterococci (vre) has caused a therapeutic problem. vana and vanb resistant types are the predominant phenotypes among vancomycin resistant enetrococci. transposon 1546 (tn1546) harboring the vana gene cluster, plays an important role in the horizontal transfer of vana gene. in this study, we examined the phenotypic and genotypic di...

Multidrug-resistant Enterococcus faecium has emerged as a nosocomial pathogen that may infect the body at various sites, including the gastrointestinal tract, and has serious implications in human health and disease. Here, we present the draft genome sequence of clinical strain VRE3, which exhibited a sequence type 16 (ST16) pattern and carried truncated Tn1546, a mobile genetic element encodin...

OBJECTIVES To determine the genetic composition of the first VanA-type plasmid (pIP816) reported, which was isolated from a clinical Enterococcus faecium (BM4147) strain in France in 1986, and to reveal the genetic units responsible for the dissemination of the vanA gene cluster by comparisons with current, published and additionally generated vanA-spanning plasmid sequences obtained from a het...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this paper was to describe an increased occurrence of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) in Swedish broilers since 2000 and to investigate the genetic relatedness of isolates. METHODS Caecal content from slaughtered broilers was cultured for VRE on medium supplemented with vancomycin (16 mg/L). Species identification, antibiotic susceptibility determination, vancomyc...

OBJECTIVES VanA glycopeptide resistance has persisted on broiler farms in the UK despite the absence of the antimicrobial selective pressure, avoparcin. This study aimed to investigate the contribution of horizontal gene transfer of Tn1546 versus clonal spread in the dissemination of the resistance. METHODS AND RESULTS One hundred and one vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium isolated fro...

A clinical isolate of Enterococcus faecium that contains a chromosomally encoded vanA gene cluster, Tn1546::IS1251, transferred vancomycin resistance to the plasmid-free strain Enterococcus faecalis JH2-2 during filter matings. Hybridization of a vanHAXY probe to SmaI restriction-digested genomic DNA separated by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis showed that the vanA gene cluster was located on ...

The first vancomycin-resistant clinical isolates of Enterococcus species were reported in Europe in 1988. Similar strains were later detected in hospitals on the East Coast of the United States. Since then, vancomycin-resistant enterococci have spread with unexpected rapidity and are now encountered in hospitals in most countries. This article reviews the mode of action and the mechanism of bac...

The elements that mediate VanA glycopeptide resistance in enterococci are heterogeneous. Twenty-four distinct VanA elements were identified among a collection of enterococci isolated from hospital patients and nonhuman sources in the United Kingdom (9). Despite their diversity, all these elements showed extensive homology with the prototype VanA transposon, Tn1546, from Enterococcus faecium BM4...