title: Studies on the drug resistance profile of Enterococcus faecium distributed from poultry retailers to hospitals.
abstract: The multidrug resistant Enterococcus faecium (MEF) strains originating from farm animals are proliferating at a substantial pace to impact downstream food chains and could reach hospitals. This study was conducted to elucidate the drug susceptibility profile of MEF strains collected from poultry products in Ann Arbor, MI area and clinical settings from Michigan State Lab and Moffitt Cancer Center (MCC) in Florida. Presumptive positive Enterococcus isolates at species level were identified by Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight (MALDI-TOF) analysis. The antibiotic susceptibility profile for both poultry and clinical strains was determined by the Thermo Scientific's Sensititre conform to the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) and validated via quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) methods. Out of 50 poultry samples (Turkey: n = 30; Chicken: n = 20), 36 samples were positive for Enterococcus species from which 20.83% were identified as E. faecium. All the E. faecium isolates were multidrug resistant and displayed resistance to the last alternative drug, quinupristin/dalfopristin (QD) used to treat vancomycin resistant E. faecium (VRE) in hospitals. Results indicate the presence of MEF strains in food animals and clinical settings that are also resistant to QD.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Cell Biology, Microbiology and Molecular Biology, University of South Florida , Tampa , Florida , USA.
authors.forename: Alya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Limayem
authors.affiliation: b Applied Research Center, National Sanitary Foundation , Ann Arbor , Michigan , USA.
authors.forename: Robert Scott
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Donofrio
authors.affiliation: a Department of Cell Biology, Microbiology and Molecular Biology, University of South Florida , Tampa , Florida , USA.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: c Department of Integrative Biology, University of South Florida , Tampa , Florida , USA.
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Haller
authors.affiliation: d Department of Food Science and Center for Food Safety, Institute of Food Science & Engineering, University of Arkansas , Fayetteville , Arkansas , USA.
authors.forename: Michael G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D002645:Chickens / Q000382:microbiology; D004351:Drug Resistance; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D016984:Enterococcus faecium / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008824:Michigan; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D011200:Poultry / Q000382:microbiology*; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; D014422:Turkeys / Q000382:microbiology; D014769:Virginiamycin / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D014769:Virginiamycin; C062940:quinupristin-dalfopristin
keywords: Multidrug resistant E. faecium; antimicrobial susceptibility profile; hospitals; poultry; virginiamycin