Molecular determination of van genes among clinical isolates of enterococci at a hospital setting

الملخص EN

Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) poses a formidable challenge to public health due to its inherent resistance to multiple antibiotics coupled with the ability to transfer genetic determinants to dangerous pathogens like Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

The purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence of vancomycin resistance in enterococci among clinical isolates at a tertiary care military hospital in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia and to detect van genes using multiplex-PCR.

Overall, 246 isolates of enterococci were collected from various clinical specimens.

The isolates were identified, and antimicrobial susceptibility testing was done using the Vitek 2 system.

Multiplex PCR was performed on the VRE isolates, thus identified to determine the van genes harbored.

A total of 15 VRE were identified, of which 14 (93.3%) were Enterococcus faecium, and 1(6.7%) was Enterococcus cas- seliflavus with intrinsic vanC resistance.

Of the 14 vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium, 8 (57.1%) harbored vanB genes, while 6 (42.8%) harbored vanA genes.

All the VRE were susceptible to linezolid and tigecycline.

Our study detected a low prevalence (6.1%) of VRE among clinical isolates of enterococci and that the vanB gene predominates in such strains.

Susceptibility profiles indicated that linezolid and tigecycline are still effective against these multidrug-resistant pathogens.

Pus specimens yielded the highest percentage (53.3%) of isolates from which VRE was obtained, and this finding is novel among studies done in Saudi Arabia.