title: Epidemiology of multiresistant Enterococcus avium isolates in a Greek tertiary care hospital.
abstract: A retrospective survey of the isolation rate of Enterococcus avium during the period March 1994-February 2000 conducted in Laikon General Hospital using the WHONET software, revealed a peak in the isolation rates of this species during March 1995-February 1996. The ten strains isolated during this time were studied further. No glycopeptide resistance was detected but resistance to ampicillin, ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, gentamicin (high-level) and streptomycin (high-level) was present in nine, ten, nine, three and seven of the isolates, respectively. The genes aac(6')-Ie+aph(2")-Ia and ant(6)-I, encoding for high-level gentamicin and streptomycin resistance, respectively, were detected only in the isolates with the corresponding phenotypes. Beta-lactamase production and haemolysis were not detected. There was evidence of ward-, floor- and building-specific distribution among the different aminoglycoside resistance phenotypes. DNA fingerprinting by PFGE grouped six of the ten isolates in a single cluster with 83% similarity, even though they expressed various resistance phenotypes. These results suggest dissemination of resistance genes among both genetically related and unrelated strains.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Laikon General Hospital, Athens, Greece. ipapapar@med.uoa.gr
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Papaparaskevas
authors.forename: Panayotis T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Tassios
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kalapothaki
authors.forename: Athina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Avlami
authors.forename: Nicholas J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Legakis
authors.forename: Alkiviadis C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Vatopoulos
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D016983:Enterococcus / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D016908:Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D010802:Phylogeny; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents