Eshaghi Alireza, Shahinas Dea, Li Aimin, Kariyawasam Ruwandi, Banh Philip, Desjardins Marc, Melano Roberto G, Patel Samir N
Public Health Ontario Laboratories, Public Health Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Division of Microbiology, Eastern Ontario Regional Laboratory Services, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
J Clin Microbiol. 2015 Jul;53(7):2225-9. doi: 10.1128/JCM.03267-14. Epub 2015 May 6.
The ability of vancomycin resistance determinants to be horizontally transferred within enterococci species is a concern. Identification and characterization of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) in a clinical isolate have a significant impact on infection control practices. In this study, we describe a clinical isolate of Enterococcus gallinarum exhibiting high-level resistance to vancomycin and teicoplanin. The genetic characterization of this isolate showed the presence of vanA and vanB genes in addition to the naturally carried vanC gene. vanA was identified on pA6981, a 35,608-bp circular plasmid with significant homology to plasmid pS177. The vanB operon was integrated into the bacterial chromosome and showed a high level of homology to previously reported Tn1549 and Tn5382. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of E. gallinarum carrying both vanA and vanB operons, indicating the importance of identifying the vancomycin resistance mechanism in non-E. faecium and non-E. faecalis enterococcal species.
万古霉素耐药决定簇在肠球菌种内进行水平转移的能力令人担忧。对临床分离株中的耐万古霉素肠球菌（VRE）进行鉴定和表征，对感染控制措施有重大影响。在本研究中，我们描述了一株对万古霉素和替考拉宁表现出高水平耐药性的鹑鸡肠球菌临床分离株。该分离株的基因特征表明，除了天然携带的vanC基因外，还存在vanA和vanB基因。vanA在pA6981上被鉴定出来，pA6981是一个35608 bp的环状质粒，与质粒pS177具有显著同源性。vanB操纵子整合到细菌染色体中，与先前报道的Tn1549和Tn5382具有高度同源性。据我们所知，这是鹑鸡肠球菌同时携带vanA和vanB操纵子的首次报道，表明在非粪肠球菌和非屎肠球菌的肠球菌种中鉴定万古霉素耐药机制的重要性。
