Hospital and community ampicillin-resistant Enterococcus faecium are evolutionarily closely linked but have diversified through niche adaptation.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Ampicillin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (ARE) has emerged as a nosocomial pathogen. Here, we quantified ARE carriage in different community sources and determined genetic relatedness with hospital ARE.

Methods and results

ARE was recovered from rectal swabs of 24 of 79 (30%) dogs, 11 of 85 (13%) cats and 0 of 42 horses and from 3 of 40 (8%) faecal samples of non-hospitalized humans receiving amoxicillin. Multi-locus Sequence Typing revealed 21 sequence types (STs), including 5 STs frequently associated with hospital-acquired infections. Genes previously found to be enriched in hospital ARE, such as IS16, orf903, orf905, orf907, were highly prevalent in community ARE (≥79%), while genes with a proposed role in pathogenesis, such as esp, hyl and ecbA, were found r

SUBMITTER: de Regt MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3281830 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature