Genetic Diversity, Antimicrobial Resistance, and Virulence Factors of Enterococcus faecalis Isolates Obtained from Stool Samples of Hospitalized Patients

Jundishapur Journal of Microbiology

article

Mitra Motallebi¹  Zahra Sadat Seyyedi¹  Mohammad Javad Azadchehr² 

[1] Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Kashan University of Medical Sciences;Infectious Diseases Research Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences

关键词: Enterococcus faecalis;    ERIC Typing;    Antimicrobial Resistance;    Genetic Diversity;    Virulence Factors;   

DOI  :  10.5812/jjm-121379

学科分类：微生物学和免疫学

来源: Jundishapur Journal of Microbiology

【 摘 要 】

Background: Enterococcus faecalis rapidly develops resistance to different antibiotics, thereby resulting in serious nosocomial infections associated with high mortality rates and different problems in the healthcare systems. Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the genetic diversity, antimicrobial resistance, and virulence factors of E. faecalis isolates obtained from the stool samples of patients in a hospital in the center of Iran. Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study, 108 stool samples were collected from September 2019 to February 2020 from 108 patients hospitalized in a hospital in the center of Iran. Enterococcus faecalis isolates were detected using the ddlE gene detection technique, and antimicrobial resistance testing was performed using the disc agar diffusion method. Moreover, polymerase chain reaction was used to detect antimicrobial resistance genes and virulence factors. Genetic diversity was also analyzed by enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus using PCR. The BioNumerics software was used to construct a dendrogram. Results: Of 108 isolates, 50 samples were E. faecalis (46.2%). The prevalence of multidrug resistance among E. faecalis isolates was 62%, and most isolates were resistant to antibiotics tetracycline (70%), erythromycin (68%), and rifampin (60%). Among the E. faecalis isolates, the most prevalent antimicrobial resistance genes were ermB (96%), aph (2′′) Ia (66%), aac(6′)-Ie (40%), and ermC (30%), and the most prevalent virulence genes were gelE (78%), asa1 (74%), and esp (74%). The genetic diversity analysis showed 25 ERIC types in two major clusters (ie, clusters H and J) and eight minor clusters (ie, clusters A-G and I). There was no significant difference between clusters H and J in terms of antimicrobial resistance and resistance genes (P > 0.05). In contrast, the prevalence of the asa1 gene was significantly higher in cluster J than in cluster H (P < 0.05). Conclusions: This study showed the high prevalence of multidrug resistance, and high heterogeneity among the E. faecalis isolates obtained from the stool samples of hospitalized patients.

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC