Biofilm synthesis and presence of virulence factors among enterococci isolated from patients and water samples.

Biofilm synthesis and presence of virulence factors among enterococci isolated from patients and water samples. J Med Microbiol. 2015 Aug 3; Authors: Papadimitriou-Olivgeris M, Filippidou S, Drougka E, Fligou F, Kolonitsiou F, Dodou V, Marangos M, Anastassiou ED, Vantarakis A, Spiliopoulou I Abstract The goal of this study was to compare biofilm synthesis among enterococci recovered from clinical samples (infection or colonization) of patients, as well as, environmental samples in order to determine possible virulence factors and clonal relationship. During a 2-year period, clinical samples (blood, catheter tips, bronchial secretions, wounds, peritoneal fluid, urine) and rectal swabs collected from hospitalized patients, as well as, environmental water samples were tested for the presence of Enterococcus faecalis and E. faecium. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed by the disk diffusion method and Etest. Strains were tested for the presence of vanA, vanB, esp, ace and asp genes by PCR. Clones were identified by PFGE (SmaI). From infected patients, 48 strains were identified; 24 E. faecium (10 vanA-positive, 14 vancomycin-susceptible) and 24 E. faecalis (one vanA-positive, 23 vancomycin-susceptible). Among 143 colonizing isolates, 134 were E. faecium (58 vanA-positive, 11 vanB-positive, 65 vancomycin-susceptible) and nine E. faecalis (three vanA-positive, two vanB-positive, four vancomycin-susceptible). Among 167 environmen...
Source: Journal of Medical Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: J Med Microbiol Source Type: research