Antibiotic resistance and mechanisms implicated in clinical enterococci in a Tunisian hospital.
Susceptibility testing for 15 antibiotics was performed in a series of 191 clinical enterococci recovered in a Tunisian Hospital during 2000-2003. Species detected were the following ones (number of isolates): E. faecalis (139), E. faecium (41), E. casseliflavus (5), E. gallinarum (3), E. avium (2) and E. hirae (1). The percentages of antibiotic resistance detected were as follows (E. faecalis/ E. faecium/ other species) : penicillin (0/ 73/ 9%), tetracycline (78/ 44/ 54%), chloramphenicol (52/ 29/ 27%), erythromycin (66/ 100/ 82%), spiramycin (84/ 83/ 64%), pristinamycin (100/ 0/ 73%), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (88/ 78/ 91%), rifampicin (72/ 41/ 0%), vancomycin (0/ 0/ 36%), teicoplanin (0/ 0/ 0%), high-level-resistance for gentamicin (24/ 29/ 45%), streptomycin (34/ 56/ 55%) and kanamycin (41/ 68/ 55%). Increased vancomycin minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were only detected in E. casseliflavus and E. gallinarum isolates (MIC range 8-24 microg/ml). The erm(B), catA, tet(M), aac(6')-aph(2''), aph(3')-IIIa, and ant(6)-Ia genes were detected in 91%, 32%, 86%, 98%, 100%, and 72% of the E. faecium and E. faecalis isolates resistant to erythromycin, chloramphenicol, tetracycline and high-level-resistant to gentamicin, kanamycin and streptomycin, respectively. A total of 20 unrelated pulsed-field-gel-electrophoresis patterns were found in the series of 46 high-level gentamicin-resistant E. faecalis and E. faecium isolates of this study.
Laboratoire de Microbiologie, Département de Biologie, Faculté de Sciences de Tunis, Campus Universitaire, Tunisia.
N
N
Klibi
S
S
Gharbi
A
A
Masmoudi
K
K
Ben Slama
P
P
Poeta
M
M
Zarazaga
C
C
Fendri
A
A
Boudabous
C
C
Torres
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017931:DNA Primers; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D016983:Enterococcus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity; D016908:Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014416:Tunisia
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D017931:DNA Primers