Abd El-Hamid Marwa I, Abd El-Aziz Norhan K, Ammar Ahmed M, Gharib Ahlam A, Ibrahim Ghada A, Moawed Basma F M, Alshamy Hend, El-Malt Rania M S
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig 44511, Egypt.
Bacteriology Department, Animal Health Research Institute (AHRI), Ismailia Branch, Agriculture Research Center (ARC), Ismailia 41522, Egypt.
J Appl Microbiol. 2025 Jan 6;136(1). doi: 10.1093/jambio/lxaf001.
The present study aimed to detect the frequency of vancomycin resistance and virulence genes' profiles of multi-drug-resistant (MDR) enterococcal isolates from different sources and to investigate the sequence heterogeneity between the esp genes of MDR and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis isolates from chicken and human sources.
Conventional phenotypic methods identified 91 isolates (60.7%) as Enterococcus species, and these isolates were retrieved from dairy (37/52), chicken (35/54), and human (19/44) origins. Enterococcal isolates were frequently resistant to rifampin (67%), and 38.5% of the isolates were MDR. Of the 22 vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) detected isolates, 11 (50%), 9 (41%), 1 (4.5%), and 1 (4.5%) isolate were identified as E. faecium, E. faecalis, E. casseliflavus, and un-specified Enterococcus spp., respectively. Moreover, 22 (100%) and 19 (86.4%) isolates harbored vanA and vanB genes, respectively. Of note, gelE and asa1 genes were more prevalent among the tested isolates (95.5% each), and the multi-virulence criteria were detected among 68.2% of the examined isolates. The sequences of esp genes of E. faecalis from the chicken breast meat and human urine samples were 100% identical with other esp genes and pathogenicity islands on GeneBank, which is undesirable.
Our findings require strict hygienic measures during the processing of chickens and their by-products to minimize the possibility of transmission of virulent enterococcal strains. Furthermore, the use of antimicrobials in poultry and animal production in developing countries should be controlled to minimize the prevalence of MDR and VRE isolates in humans.
本研究旨在检测不同来源的耐多药（MDR）肠球菌分离株中万古霉素耐药频率和毒力基因谱，并调查来自鸡肉和人类来源的MDR和耐万古霉素粪肠球菌分离株中esp基因之间的序列异质性。
传统表型方法鉴定出91株（60.7%）为肠球菌属，这些分离株分别来自乳制品（37/52）、鸡肉（35/54）和人类（19/44）来源。肠球菌分离株对利福平耐药率较高（67%），38.5%的分离株为MDR。在检测到的22株耐万古霉素肠球菌（VRE）分离株中，分别有11株（50%）、9株（41%）、1株（4.5%）和1株（4.5%）被鉴定为屎肠球菌、粪肠球菌、格氏肠球菌和未明确的肠球菌属。此外，分别有22株（100%）和19株（86.4%）分离株携带vanA和vanB基因。值得注意的是，gelE和asa1基因在测试分离株中更为普遍（各占95.5%），68.2%的检测分离株中检测到多重毒力标准。来自鸡胸肉和人类尿液样本的粪肠球菌esp基因序列与基因库中的其他esp基因和致病岛100%相同，这是不理想的。
我们的研究结果要求在鸡肉及其副产品加工过程中采取严格的卫生措施，以尽量减少有毒力的肠球菌菌株传播的可能性。此外，应控制发展中国家家禽和动物生产中抗菌药物的使用，以尽量减少人类中MDR和VRE分离株的流行率。
