Detection Of Virulence Factors In Clinical Isolates Of Enterococci In A Tertiary Care Hospital Of Southern Maharashtra.

ABSTRACT

Background & Objective: Enterococcus is one of the notorious organism causing nosocomial infections. Several virulence factors have been described from enterococci that enhance their ability to colonize patient’s tissue, increase resistance to antibiotics and aggravate the infection outcome. Therefore the study was carried out to investigate virulence factors among the enterococci isolated from different clinical samples. Methodology: Total 154 enterococcus species were isolated and were identified by conventional bacteriological method as well as by Vitek-2 compact system. The presence of certain virulence factors namely hemolysin, haemagglutination, gelatinase production and biofilm formation were detected and data was statistically analyzed. Results: E. faecalis was the commonest isolate (147) followed by E. faecium (7). Maximum number of isolates were from urine 65(42.20%) followed by pus 58(37.66%). The results of detection of virulence factors revealed 15.58% strains with gelatinase production, 34.41% with haemagglutination property, 35.71% showed hemolysin production and 55.84% strains showed biofilm production by microtitre assay plate method. Conclusion: All the markers studied are the potential virulence markers for the enterococci. Biofilm formation is the crucial virulence factor that enhances the ability of pathogen to cause severe infections. Inhibiting the action of such virulent factors or blocking biofilm formation may provide alternative method of therapy.