title: Vancomycin-resistant enterococci in rooks (Corvus frugilegus) wintering throughout Europe.
abstract: This study's aims were to assess the prevalence of, and to characterize, vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) from rooks (Corvus frugilegus) wintering in Europe during 2010/2011. Faeces samples were cultivated selectively for VRE and characterized. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) were used to examine epidemiologic relationships of vanA-containing VRE. The vanA-carrying VRE were tested in vitro for mobility of vancomycin resistance traits. VRE were found in 62 (6%) of 1073 rook samples. Enterococcal species diversity comprised Enterococcus gallinarum (48 isolates), followed by E. faecium (9) and E. faecalis (5). Eight VRE harboured the vanA and ermB genes. Seven vanA-carrying VRE originated from the Czech Republic and one from Germany. All vanA-carrying VRE were identified as E. faecium. Based on MLST analysis, six vanA-positive isolates were grouped as ST92 type, one isolate belonged to ST121, and the remaining one was described as a novel type ST671. Seven out of eight isolates were able to transfer the vancomycin resistance trait via filter mating with a transfer rate of 8.95 ± 3.25 × 10(-7)  transconjugants per donor. In conclusion, wintering rooks in some European countries may disseminate clinically important enterococci and pose a risk for environmental contamination.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Wildlife Diseases, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, Brno, Czech Republic. oravcova.veronica@gmail.com
authors.forename: Veronika
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Oravcova
authors.forename: Anuradha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.forename: Ludek
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zurek
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bardon
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guenther
authors.forename: Alois
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cizek
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Literak
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D019729:Carbon-Oxygen Ligases / Q000235:genetics; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D046368:Crows / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology*; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000382:microbiology*; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D016983:Enterococcus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D005060:Europe; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal / Q000235:genetics; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D014640:Vancomycin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D020713:Vancomycin Resistance / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C071437:VanA ligase, Bacteria; D014640:Vancomycin; D019729:Carbon-Oxygen Ligases