Between August 1994 and September 1996, 28 glycopeptide-resistant enterococci (GRE) were isolated from 8 infected patients and 11 intestinal carriers hospitalized at the University Hospital of Geneva. Identification to the species was made by both phenotypic (API 20 STREP and Rapid ID 32 STREP systems, and Vitek Gram Positive Identification Card) and genotypic methods using a multiplex PCR assa...

The prevalence of streptogramin resistance genes in enterococci recovered from retail poultry in the Greater Washington DC area was examined. Forty-three chicken and 32 turkey retail samples were analysed. Thirty-one non-Enterococcus faecalis enterococcal strains were isolated that displayed MICs of quinupristin-dalfopristin and virginiamycin of > or = 4 mg/L. These included Enterococcus faeciu...

Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis, E. faecium and E. durans isolates with the genotype vanA were detected in 7 of 118 faecal samples (5.9%) of natural gilthead seabream recovered off the coast of Portugal, and one vancomycin-resistant isolate/sample was further characterized. The genes erm(B), tet(L), tet(M), aac(6')-aph(2"), aph(3')-IIIa and/or ant(6)-Ia were identified in most of the...

background: enterococci are members of the normal gut flora and released into the environment via sewage outlets, where they can survive for long times. infections with high-level gentamicin resistant (hlgr) enterococci are emerg­ing worldwide. hlgr enterococci have developed a resistance to most antibiotics commonly used for enterococcal in­fec­tions therefore; treatment of infections caused b...

Recent studies have reported RP59500 (Synercid) (quinupristin-dalfopristin), a semisynthetic streptogramin, to have good in vitro activity against certain enterococcal strains, including vancomycin-resistant strains of Enterococcus faecium (3–5). The purpose of the present study was to determine the in vitro activity of this new compound against a larger sample of resistant strains of enterococ...

OBJECTIVES To detect quinupristin-dalfopristin and virginiamycin M1 resistance in Enterococcus faecium from human, food and environmental sources. MATERIALS AND METHODS Enterococcal isolates derived from human faeces and urine, meat and seawater were screened for resistance to quinupristin-dalfopristin and virginiamycin M1 by an agar dilution method. Identification of all E. faecium strains a...

The complete sequence (1,479 nucleotides) of msrC, part of which was recently reported by others using a different strain, was determined. This gene was found in 233 of 233 isolates of Enterococcus faecium but in none of 265 other enterococci. Disruption of msrC was associated with a two- to eightfold decrease in MICs of erythromycin azithromycin, tylosin, and quinupristin, suggesting that it m...

Fragments (414 bp) of the gene-encoding ribosomal protein L16 from Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus faecalis that were resistant and susceptible to the oligosaccharide antibiotics avilamycin and evernimicin (SCH 27899) were sequenced and compared. The susceptible E. faecalis and E. faecium isolates had sequences that were similar to those of the type strains. All resistant E. faecalis isol...

A multilocus sequence typing (MLST) scheme has been developed for Enterococcus faecium. Internal fragments from seven housekeeping genes of 123 epidemiologically unlinked isolates from humans and livestock and 16 human-derived isolates from several outbreaks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and The Netherlands were analyzed. A total of 62 sequence types were detected in vanc...

BACKGROUND During the last decade, enterococci have become important nosocomial pathogens, representing the second leading cause of urinary tract infections. This increasing prevalence has been paralleled by the occurrence of multi-drug resistant (MDR) and high-level gentamicin resistant (HLGR) strains. METHODS From September 2005 to 2006, a total of 638 enterococcal isolates were collected f...