ABSTRACT
In this study, we report the characterization of a strain of Enterococcus faecium vanA, which grows only in the presence of vancomycin (VDEfm-UEL). The bacterium was isolated from the feces of a female patient who had undergone surgical treatment of Reinke’s edema and was receiving intravenous vancomycin therapy for infection with methicillin/oxacillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a postoperative complication. Antimicrobial dependence was further confirmed by the vancomycin E-test. VDEfm-UEL was also shown to be resistant to ampicillin, ciprofloxacin, chloramphenicol, erythromycin, levofloxacin, penicillin, rifampicin, and teicoplanin. The putative virulence genes efaA, gelE and esp were detected by PCR. The ddl gene from VDEfm-UEL was cloned and sequenced. Vancomycin dependence seems to be associated with the insertion of a nucleotide in that sequence, which results in a frame-shift mutation, introducing a premature stop codon. This is the first report of vancomycin-dependent E. faecium isolation in a university hospital in Brazil.
Subject(s)
Aged , Female , Humans , Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology , Enterococcus faecium/drug effects , Vancomycin Resistance/genetics , Cross Infection/microbiology , Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial/drug effects , Enterococcus faecium/genetics , Enterococcus faecium/isolation & purification , Feces/microbiology , Frameshift Mutation/genetics , Hospitals, University , Microbial Sensitivity Tests , Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus/drug effects , Polymerase Chain ReactionABSTRACT
Strains of E. coli isolated from patients with urinary tract infection were examined for P and type 1 adhesin production by colony hybridization with pap and pil operons. The P pili probe detected 45 (46.4 per cent) of the total of 97 strains studied and the type 1 pili probe detected 83 (85.6 per cent). The pap operon was detected in 39 (53.4 per cent) of 73 strains isolated from urine of patients with urinary disease and in 6 (25.0 per cent) of 24 strains isolated from feces of healthy individuals employed as controls (P = 0.029), and the pil operon was detected in 67 (91.8 per cent) of the urinary strains and in 16 (66.6 per cent) of the fecal strains (P = 0.007). Our data did not show significant differences in frequency of P pili among isolates from pyelonephritis (78.5 per cent), cystitis (45.8 per cent) and asymptomatic bacteriuria (54.5 per cent). Type 1 pili were not associated with the different types of infection; the frequency of these pili was 100 per cent in pyelonephritis and in asymptomatic bacteriuria, and 87.5 per cent in cystitis. The incidence of pap operon in strains isolated from pyelonephritis and from asymptomatic bacteriuria was higher in 11-to 40-year old women. These data show a high frequency of pap and pil operons among uropathogenic strains of E. coli, which seems to be an important factor in the development of urinary infection.
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Adult , Adhesins, Bacterial/genetics , In Vitro Techniques , Escherichia coli Infections/genetics , Urinary Tract Infections/genetics , Operon/genetics , Adhesins, Bacterial/isolation & purification , Age Factors , DNA Probes , Escherichia coli Infections/complications , Urinary Tract Infections/etiology , Sex FactorsABSTRACT
Escherichia coli strains isolated from 100 urine samples taken from patients with urinary tract infections (UTI) and from 20 normal fecal (NF) samples were examined for serum resistance, mannose-resistant hemagglutination of human erythrocytes (MRHA) and for production of aerobactin, hemolysis and colicin. Among the UTI E. coli strains, 79% produced aerobactin, 69% showed serum resistance, 44% produced MRHA, 32% were beta-hemolytic and 22% were colicinogenic. A greater proportion of UTI E. coli strains produced aerobactin, colicin V, beta-hemolysis and MRHA when compared to NF strains. Production of MR hemagglutins was significant correlated with that of aerobactin and hemolysin. These results suggest that the presence of aerobactin may be a significant etiological factor in UTI, and that the production of MR adhesins and of hemolysin also might contribute to the virulence of these strains