Little is known about vancomycin-resistant enterococci in China. Thirteen pulsed-field gel electrophoresis-confirmed heterogeneous VanA-type vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE) isolates were obtained from five Chinese hospitals from 2001 to 2005. The isolates were typed by multilocus sequence typing into nine different sequence types (STs), including five new STs (ST18, ST25, ST78, ...

Enterococci often acquire antimicrobial resistance through horizontal gene transfer. Relatedness between enterococci with high level resistance to gentamicin and vancomycin isolated from humans, food and hospital environment in Tandil County (Argentina) was investigated. PCR amplification for species determination was carried out. Resistance to seven antimicrobials was studied; virulence genes ...

BACKGROUND The D-alanyl-D-lactate (D-Ala-D-Lac) ligase is required for synthesis of altered peptidoglycan (PG) termini in the VanA phenotype of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), and the D-alanyl-D-serine (D-Ala-D-Ser) ligase is required for the VanC phenotype of VRE. Here we have compared these with the Escherichia coli D-Ala-D-Ala ligase DdlB for formation of the enzyme-bound D-alanyl ph...

BACKGROUND The 'spillover effect' of academic-practice partnerships on hospital nursing staff has received limited attention. In 2007, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) created the VA Nursing Academy (VANA) to fund fifteen partnerships between schools of nursing and local VA healthcare facilities. In this paper, we examine the experiences of the VA staff nurses who worked on the units use...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to characterize 34 vancomycin-resistant VanA Enterococcus faecium isolates obtained from two hospitals in Saudi Arabia and to assess Tn1546 variation within these isolates. METHODS PFGE and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) genotypes, antibiotic susceptibility patterns, the presence of enterococcal surface protein (esp) and hyaluronidase (hyl) genes and co...

The reduction in time required to identify vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) has gained increased importance during hospital outbreaks. In the present study, we implemented a laboratory protocol to speed up the VRE screening from rectal samples. The protocol combines a medium for selective VRE isolation (VREBAC(R), Probac, São Paulo) and a multiplex PCR for detection and identification of ...

In Korea, the incidence of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) infection has recently been increasing, with a clinical isolation rate of up to 25%. We evaluated the clinical usefulness of real-time PCR for the detection of the vanA gene over conventional culture in patients confirmed as being VRE-colonized. During the evaluation stage, 100 cons...

BACKGROUND The incidence of infection and intestinal colonization with vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) is increasing in many countries in the last decade. Concerning the difficult antimicrobial treatment of infections caused by VRE, decreasing the incidence and prevalence of these infections is an important factor in VRE-induced morbidity and mortality control. AIM To determine the pre...