Three of five natural plasmids carrying a wild-type vanA gene cluster did not confer LY333328 glycopeptide resistance on Enterococcus faecalis JH2-2 (MIC = 2 microg/ml). The two remaining plasmids conferred resistance to the drug (MIC, 8 microg/ml). The vanB gene cluster did not confer resistance to LY333328, since this antibiotic was not an inducer. Mutations in the vanS(B) sensor gene that al...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Enterococci have emerged as important nosocomial pathogens and emergence of resistance to many of the antimicrobials used for Gram-positive organisms has made the management of infections due to Enterococcus species difficult. Resistance to glycopeptide antibiotics, especially vancomycin is of special concern. This study was undertaken to perform a phenotypic and genotyp...

A vancomycin-resistant Lactococcus lactis isolate 1A-1 from a competitive exclusion (CE) product contained plasmid-encoded vanA, B, C1, and C2/3 genes. The L. lactis 1A-1 conjugatively transferred the genes to Staphylococcus aureus in vitro. CE product bacteria may be reservoirs for dissemination of vanA, B, and C genes to the human gastrointestinal microbiota.

In a recent issue of this Journal, Jolivet and colleagues reported the first nosocomial outbreak of vanA-type vancomycinresistant Enterococcus raffinosus in France [1]. We would like to report a vanA-positive E. raffinosus outbreak that is not only the first in Belgium but, to our knowledge, is also the first to be reported in a nursing home anywhere in the world. We also tabulate a literature ...

2 Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most common causes of hospital-and community-acquired infections and treatment of staphylococcal infections is complicated by the ability of this bacterial species to become resistant to antibiotics. Vancomycin is the drug of choice for therapy of infections due to methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) but increase in vancomycin use has led to the emergenc...

We report here on the characterization of a vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis (VREF) isolated from a dog with mastitis. The isolate was positive for the vanA, ermB, and tet(M) genes, with vanA and ermB carried on the same transferable plasmid. Comparison of this isolate with VREF from poultry and human sources in New Zealand demonstrated identical SmaI macrorestriction patterns and Tn1...

The gene loci vdh, vanA, and vanB, which are involved in the bioconversion of vanillin to protocatechuate by Pseudomonas sp. strain HR199 (DSM 7063), were identified as the structural genes of a novel vanillin dehydrogenase (vdh) and the two subunits of a vanillate demethylase (vanA and vanB), respectively. These genes were localized on an EcoRI fragment (E230), which was cloned from a Pseudomo...

Glycopeptide-resistant enterococci (GRE) can carry more than one VanA element (3, 5), but we are unaware of previous evidence for separate transfer of such elements. Enterococcus faecalis JS3B was examined as one of 46 GRE isolated from fecal screens of a hematology patient at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, United Kingdom (7). Overlapping PCR (1) showed that this strain contained a group H ...

Recent cases of infections caused by glycopeptide-resistant enterococci (GRE) have highlighted the emergence of these organisms in the Republic of South Africa. During May 1998 we conducted a prevalence study in four hospitals in Johannesburg and obtained 184 rectal swabs from patients identified as being at high risk for GRE colonization. Twenty enterococcal isolates showing various glycopepti...