title: Isolation and Biochemical Fingerprinting of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus faecium From Meat, Chicken and Cheese.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) are important nosocomial pathogens and food chain has been considered as an assumed source for dissemination of VRE to human.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The presence of VRE isolates from food samples and typing of these isolates with Phene plate, a biochemical fingerprinting method, were investigated.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty samples of meat, chicken and cheese were analyzed for VRE during 2010. Antibiotic susceptibility tests and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) were also examined. VRE isolates were typed with the Phene plate system (PhPlate), a biochemical fingerprinting method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 70 VRE isolates were obtained and identified as Enterococcus faecium by species-specific PCR. All the isolates carried vanA, while none of them harbored vanB. The VRE isolates included 35, 27, and 8 isolates from meat, chicken and cheese, respectively. Typing with the PhPlate revealed a diversity index of 0.78 for E. faecium, containing 10 common and four single types. The results of antibiotic susceptibility and MIC tests showed an increased resistance to ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, ampicillin and gentamicin, to which, 100%, 100%, 100%, and 95% of VRE isolates were resistant, respectively. Only 5% of the isolates were resistant to chloramphenicol and the MIC of the isolates for vancomycin and teicoplanin was ≥ 256 µg/mL and for gentamicin-resistant isolates it was 1024 µg/mL. Conventional and molecular identification tests exhibited that all the isolates were E. faecium carrying vanA. None of the isolates harbored vanB.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results showed that enterococci are common contaminants in food. Indeed, this study indicates a high prevalence of multidrug-resistant enterococci in food of animal origin in Iran. Isolating some persisting enterococcal isolates revealed that continuous surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in enterococci from food is essential.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Malihe
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Talebi
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences , Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Javad
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sadeghi
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Fateh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rahimi
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Pourshafie
keywords: Fingerprinting; Food; Minimum Inhibitory Concentration; Multidrug Resistance; Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci