Molecular characterization of vancomycin-resistant Enterococci strains eight years apart from its first isolation in São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

SUMMARYE. faecium was the first reported VRE species, carrying the vanA gene in Brazil. In spite of this, vancomycin-resistant E. faecalis has become the predominant species in Brazilian hospitals. The aim of this study was to evaluate the genetic relatedness of VREs isolated in a Brazilian teaching hospital eight years apart from its first isolation. We analyzed 38 VRE strains obtained from 81 surveillance cultures of patients admitted to the four largest intensive care units in Hospital São Paulo in February, 2006. Presence of the vanA gene was assayed by PCR and PFGE analysis was used for molecular characterization. All VRE strains carried the vanA gene. Two distinct clonal groups were observed among vancomycin-resistant E. faecalis. Vancomycin-resistant E. faecium belonged to five distinct clones were demonstrated by molecular typing. All of these clones were different from the first vancomycin-resistant enterococci clone isolated eight years ago in our hospital.

Emergence of vanA vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium in a hospital in Porto Alegre, South Brazil

“…Our data describes a monoclonal outbreak, with two major subclones, during a period of almost a year. The pulsotype of the prevalent clone/subclone (A1) in this study seems to be the same, by optical evaluation, as the one found by d 'Azevedo et al (2008) circulating in a hospital in São Paulo, Brazil [36]. This finding could suggest that there is a well-established common clone in Brazilian hospitals.…”

“…Around the world and even in Brazil, most recent VRE fm outbreaks have been found to be related to monoclonal spread [36,[39][40][41]. Our data describes a monoclonal outbreak, with two major subclones, during a period of almost a year.…”

“…After that, this pathogen has been periodically isolated from clinical samples, including outbreaks, in different states of Brazil [27,[35][36][37][38].…”

Multidrug-resistant enterococci in the hospital environment: detection of novel vancomycin-resistant E. faecium clone ST910

“…In several recent studies carried out in different countries around the world (including Tunisia), VRE outbreaks seem to be related to monoclonal spread [6,25,26]. The homogeneity detected among our acquired vancomycin-resistant E. faecium isolates could be explained by the endemic dissemination of these VRE strains in the hospital.…”

Rapid detection of Van genes in rectal swabs by real time PCR in Southern Brazil

“…In Brazil, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium and E. faecalis are disseminated in hospitals in different regions 2,3 . Recognition of colonized patients represents a crucial step in controlling the dissemination of these organisms and is a laboratorybased strategy 4 .…”