Characterization of sewage waters by biochemical fingerprinting of Enterococci

Manero, Albert; Vilanova, X; Cerdà‐Cuéllar, Marta; Blanch, Anicet R.

doi:10.1016/s0043-1354(01)00486-9

Cited by 47 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Their diversity, as measured by Simpson's diversity index (D i ) (18), was 0.94, and it was almost as high as that for "normal" unrelated enterococci obtained in the present study (D i , 0.95 to 0.97) (26,32). Taken together, these data indicated that vancomycin resistance was widespread among enterococci and thus not confined to certain clones.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 65%

Occurrence and Relatedness of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci in Animals, Humans, and the Environment in Different European Regions

Kühn

Iversen

Finn

et al. 2005

Appl Environ Microbiol

111

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Vancomycin-resistant enterococcci (VRE) in Europe are thought to have emerged partly due to the use of the glycopeptide avoparcin in animal husbandry. We compared the occurrence of VRE in geographical regions of Europe in which until 1997 large amounts of avoparcin were used (Spain, United Kingdom, and Denmark) with the occurrence of VRE in Sweden, where avoparcin was banned in 1986. We also studied the relatedness between VRE strains from different regions and habitats. In total, 2,580 samples were collected from humans, animals, and the environment (soil, sewage, recipient water). VRE resistant to 20 g/ml vancomycin were identified in 8.2% of the samples and were found most frequently in raw and treated urban sewage samples (means, 71% and 36% of the samples, respectively), pig manure (17%), and hospital sewage (16%). The proportions of VRE-positive sewage samples were similar in Sweden, Spain, and the United Kingdom, whereas pig feces and manure were more often positive in Spain than in Sweden (30% versus 1%). Most VRE were Enterococcus faecium carrying vanA, and computerized biochemical phenotyping of the isolates of different ecological origins showed a high degree of polyclonality. In conclusion, it seems that animal-associated VRE probably reflect the former use of avoparcin in animal production, whereas VRE in human-associated samples may be a result of antibiotic use in hospitals. Since there seems to be a reservoir of the resistance genes in all countries studied, precautions must be taken to limit the use of antibiotics and antibiotic-like feed additives.Enterococci are members of the normal intestinal microflora in humans and animals, and they are common in environments affected by animal and human fecal material. These organisms are not considered primary pathogens, but because of their ability to acquire high-level resistance to antimicrobial agents enterococci have emerged as nosocomial pathogens worldwide (30). Concern has especially been focused on enterococci that show high-level resistance to the glycopeptide antibiotic vancomycin (vancomycin-resistant enterococci [VRE]), which until recently has been the drug of last resort against multiresistant enterococci and against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.In the United States, the incidence of bloodstream infection due to VRE increased from 0.4% in 1989 to 25.2% in 1999 (35), and between 15 and 24% of the hospitalized patients were reported to be colonized with VRE in 1998 (33). A later report indicated that 15% of all clinically relevant isolates of gram-positive cocci were VRE (17), whereas VRE of the VanA and VanB types have not been reported in animals so far. Thus, in the United States VRE are thought to have emerged and spread entirely as a result of the antibiotic use in hospitals. In Europe, infections caused by VRE remain a moderate problem in most countries. A European surveillance study found VRE in 7% of enterococcal isolates from blood cultures (13). On the other hand, healthy carriers of VRE in the community are relativ...

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 65%

Occurrence and Relatedness of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci in Animals, Humans, and the Environment in Different European Regions

Kühn

Iversen

Finn

et al. 2005

Appl Environ Microbiol

111

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“…sewage (Manero et al 2002) and environmental samples (Harwood et al 2004). Therefore, environmental water quality studies may benefit from focusing on a subset of Enterococcus species that are consistently associated with sources of fecal pollution such as domestic sewage, which poses definite human health risks, rather than utilizing the entire genus.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…E. faecalis and E. faecium are potentially good focal species for such studies, as they have been consistently identified as the dominant Enterococcus spp. in human feces (Chenoweth & Schaberg 1990;Ruoff et al 1990;Gelsomino et al 2003) and sewage (Manero et al 2002). These bacteria have been widely used as indicators of water quality (US EPA 1989).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbiological evaluation of fecal bacterial composition from surface water through aquifer sand material

Ibekwe

Lyon

2008

Journal of Water and Health

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When bacterial pathogens from livestock contaminate drinking water supplies, they can cause different forms of gastroenteritis. The objective of this study was to enumerate the concentrations of fecal indicator (Escherichia coli and enterococci) in surface water in order to determine removal efficiency by sand filtration. The concentrations of different indicator bacterial species were determined after running tertiary treated water through two tanks containing aquifer material. Enterococcus faecalis primers targeting the ddl gene and primers for Enterococcus faecium were used to identify the two species in the samples. A PCR assay based on the partial sequence of the b-D-glucoronidase gene (uidA) for specific detection and differentiation of E. coli populations was used to confirm the presence of E. coli after a biochemical test. The biochemical test overestimated the percentage of E. faecium in our samples, but the PCR assay with the ddl gene produced 100% specificity with Enterococcus faecalis. The biochemical test was 91.5% specific in identifying E. coli. The composition of indicator bacteria in Santa Ana River was dominated by intestinal microflora of humans and animals; filtration by aquifer sand material may reduce the transport of indicator bacteria from surface water to groundwater.

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“…Studies looking at the enterococci diversity in environmental waters have identified most strains as Enterococcus faecalis, Enterococcus faecium, Enterococcus casseliflavus, Enterococcus hirae, Enterococcus durans, and Enterococcus mundtii (2)(3)(4). These findings have relied on the isolation of enterococcal strains on selective culturing medium (5), followed by their classification, which may involve biochemical (6,7) and molecular (8) techniques. Culture-based techniques are also used in regulatory activities to estimate the densities of enterococci in environmental waters.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of Quantitative PCR Assays Targeting the 16S rRNA Genes of Enterococcus spp. and Their Application to the Identification of Enterococcus Species in Environmental Samples

Ryu

Henson

Elk

et al. 2013

Appl Environ Microbiol

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eThe detection of environmental enterococci has been determined primarily by using culture-based techniques that might exclude some enterococcal species as well as those that are nonculturable. To address this, the relative abundances of enterococci were examined by challenging fecal and water samples against a currently available genus-specific assay (Entero1). To determine the diversity of enterococcal species, 16S rRNA gene-based group-specific quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays were developed and evaluated against eight of the most common environmental enterococcal species. Partial 16S rRNA gene sequences of 439 presumptive environmental enterococcal strains were analyzed to study further the diversity of enterococci and to confirm the specificities of group-specific assays. The group-specific qPCR assays showed relatively high amplification rates with targeted species (>98%), although some assays cross-amplified with nontargeted species (1.3 to 6.5%). The results with the group-specific assays also showed that different enterococcal species co-occurred in most fecal samples. The most abundant enterococci in water and fecal samples were Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium, although we identified more water isolates as Enterococcus casseliflavus than as any of the other species. The prevalence of the Entero1 marker was in agreement with the combined number of positive signals determined by the group-specific assays in most fecal samples, except in gull feces. On the other hand, the number of group-specific assay signals was lower in all water samples tested, suggesting that other enterococcal species are present in these samples. While the results highlight the value of genus-and group-specific assays for detecting the major enterococcal groups in environmental water samples, additional studies are needed to determine further the diversity, distributions, and relative abundances of all enterococcal species found in water.

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Characterization of sewage waters by biochemical fingerprinting of Enterococci

Cited by 47 publications

References 22 publications

Occurrence and Relatedness of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci in Animals, Humans, and the Environment in Different European Regions

Occurrence and Relatedness of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci in Animals, Humans, and the Environment in Different European Regions

Microbiological evaluation of fecal bacterial composition from surface water through aquifer sand material

Development of Quantitative PCR Assays Targeting the 16S rRNA Genes of Enterococcus spp. and Their Application to the Identification of Enterococcus Species in Environmental Samples

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