| Popis: |
Background. Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) are common in some hospital settings and their clonal spread has been described in different regions of the world. We determined the antimicrobial susceptibility profile and the clonal relationship of VRE isolates recovered from inpatients at three general hospitals of Porto Alegre, Brazil. Results. Ninety-four VRE were characterized as Enterococcus faecium and exhibited resistance to teicoplanin, ampicillin, ciprofloxacin, and susceptibility to linezolid, quinupristin-dalfopristin and daptomycin. High level resistance to gentamicin was detected in 13.8% of them. All VREfm harbored vanA gene, while 85.1% and 94.7% harbored respectively esp and acm virulence genes. PFGE profile analysis revealed 23 clonal types including 79 isolates, while 15 isolates exhibited unique pattern type, showing a polyclonal distribution of VREfm in Southern Brazil. Conclusion. These findings contribute to the local understanding regarding the characteristics of the circulating VREs in the region. |
