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. 2021 May;28(5):2895-2899.
doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.02.022. Epub 2021 Feb 17.

Molecular determination of van genes among clinical isolates of enterococci at a hospital setting

Siju Kankalil George  1 , M R Suseela  2 , Saleh El Safi  1 , Elmoeiz Ali Elnagi  1 , Yaser A Al-Naam  1 , Ahmed Adlan Mohammed Adam  1 , Ashly Mary Jacob  1 , Thekra Al-Maqati  1 , Harish Kumar Ks  3
Affiliations

Molecular determination of van genes among clinical isolates of enterococci at a hospital setting

Siju Kankalil George et al. Saudi J Biol Sci. 2021 May.

Abstract

Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) poses a formidable challenge to public health due to its inherent resistance to multiple antibiotics coupled with the ability to transfer genetic determinants to dangerous pathogens like Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence of vancomycin resistance in enterococci among clinical isolates at a tertiary care military hospital in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia and to detect van genes using multiplex-PCR. Overall, 246 isolates of enterococci were collected from various clinical specimens. The isolates were identified, and antimicrobial susceptibility testing was done using the Vitek 2 system. Multiplex PCR was performed on the VRE isolates, thus identified to determine the van genes harbored. A total of 15 VRE were identified, of which 14 (93.3%) were Enterococcus faecium, and 1(6.7%) was Enterococcus casseliflavus with intrinsic vanC resistance. Of the 14 vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium, 8 (57.1%) harbored vanB genes, while 6 (42.8%) harbored vanA genes. All the VRE were susceptible to linezolid and tigecycline. Our study detected a low prevalence (6.1%) of VRE among clinical isolates of enterococci and that the vanB gene predominates in such strains. Susceptibility profiles indicated that linezolid and tigecycline are still effective against these multidrug-resistant pathogens. Pus specimens yielded the highest percentage (53.3%) of isolates from which VRE was obtained, and this finding is novel among studies done in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: Antimicrobial resistance; Multiplex PCR; Vancomycin-resistant enterococci.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Bar graph depicting the isolation of VRE from various clinical specimens.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Lane 1, ladder (100 base pairs); Lane 2, positive control vanA(1030 bp) and vanB(635 bp); lane 3,4,5,6,7,9,12, positive samples of vanB (635 bp); lane 8,10,11, positive samples of vanA (1030 bp); lane 13, negative control; lane 14 negative sample for both vanA and vanB.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Lane 1, ladder (100 base pairs); Lane 2, negative control; lane 3, 4, 5, positive samples of vanA (1030 bp); lane 6, positive samples of vanB (635 bp).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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