Molecular epidemiology of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium strains isolated from haematological malignancy patients in a research hospital in Turkey.
Infections and outbreaks of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) still appear to be rare in Turkey. In the present study, VRE strains isolated during an outbreak in a haematology unit of a training and research hospital in Turkey were typed and their antimicrobial-resistance patterns were characterized by molecular methods. Twelve vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium strains isolated from patients with haematological malignancies were investigated by PCR for the presence of genes encoding resistance to vancomycin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, gentamicin and erythromycin. Their clonal relationship was evaluated by PFGE and multilocus sequence typing. All strains were resistant to vancomycin and erythromycin, and had the vanA and ermB genes, respectively. PFGE was used to determine the presence of two pulsotypes and determine their subtypes. Pulsotype A belonged to sequence type (ST) 17 and pulsotype B belonged to ST 78. All strains with the vanA gene were not the same clone, indicating multiple acquisitions of resistant isolates, even over such a short time period.
Department of Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Adnan Menderes University, Aydin, Turkey.
S
S
Kirdar
Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Ataturk Training and Research Hospital, Izmir, Turkey.
A G
AG
Sener
Department of Clinical Microbiology, Selcuklu Faculty of Medicine, Selcuk University, Konya, Turkey.
U
U
Arslan
Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Ataturk Training and Research Hospital, Izmir, Turkey.
S G
SG
Yurtsever
D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D016984:Enterococcus faecium / Q000145:classification* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D016908:Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D019337:Hematologic Neoplasms / Q000150:complications*; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D020713:Vancomycin Resistance
D004269:DNA, Bacterial