Vancomycin- and erythromycin-resistant enterococci in a pig farm and its environment.
A high prevalence of vancomycin- and erythromycin-resistant enterococci (VRE and ERE respectively) in a pig farm and its environment was observed. A similar structure and composition of enterococcal populations was detected between urban sewage and those associated with the pig environment. Enterococcus faecium was the most predominant species among VRE isolates from both animal and human origin. The high population similarity index (Sp) obtained comparing VRE and ERE isolates from urban sewage and pig slurry suggests that there are certain strains circulating through the food chain from farms to humans. Erythromycin resistance was present in a wider variety of clones and species of enterococci in both pigs and humans than vancomycin resistance.
Laboratori d'Anàlisi Mediambiental, Secció Microbiologia, Aigües de Terrassa, S.A., Carrer del Nord, 88, E 08221 Terrassa (Barcelona), Catalonia, Spain.
Albert
A
Manero
Xavier
X
Vilanova
Marta
M
Cerdà-Cuéllar
Anicet R
AR
Blanch
D000821:Animal Feed / Q000382:microbiology; D000822:Animal Husbandry; D000818:Animals; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; D016983:Enterococcus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D004917:Erythromycin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D020387:Food Chain; D005516:Food Microbiology; D013030:Spain; D034421:Sus scrofa; D020713:Vancomycin Resistance
D004917:Erythromycin