title: Surveillance of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus in hospitals in Ibaraki prefecture.
abstract: We surveyed the prevalence of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) in six hospitals in Ibaraki prefecture. Three hundred and fifty-five fecal specimens were examined and 18 Enterococcus intermediately resistant to vancomycin were isolated. All of them were vanC genotypes (16 vanC-1 and 2 vanC-2 genotypes) and susceptible or intermediately resistant to ampicillin, teicoplanin, linezolid, and quinupristin-dalfopristin. Neither the vanA nor vanB gene was detected. Two of the vanC genotypes were not motile. We concluded that VRE of either VanA or VanB phenotype or those highly resistant to the antibiotics commonly used against enterococcal infection were not epidemic in this prefecture to date. In addition, we consider that detection of vancomycin-resistant genes should be encouraged for the characterization of VRE, because the vanC genotypes are occasionally motility-negative and can be misinterpreted as other Enterococcus species.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo Medical University Kasumigaura Hospital, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Oishi
authors.forename: Shigemi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hitomi
authors.forename: Shunsuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shibuya
authors.forename: Hidetaka
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fukue
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D016983:Enterococcus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D016908:Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D006761:Hospitals; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D010453:Peptide Synthases / Q000235:genetics; D011159:Population Surveillance; D014640:Vancomycin / Q000494:pharmacology; D020713:Vancomycin Resistance / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D014640:Vancomycin; D010453:Peptide Synthases; C108395:VanC protein, Enterococcus