An-Jing Kuo1, Jwu-Ching Shu2, Tsui-Ping Liu3, Jang-Jih Lu4, Ming-Hsun Lee5, Ting-Shu Wu5, Lin-Hui Su6, Tsu-Lan Wu7. 1. Department of Medical Laboratory, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Department of Medical Biotechnology and Laboratory Science, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan. 2. Department of Medical Biotechnology and Laboratory Science, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Research Center for Pathogenic Bacteria, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan. 3. Department of Laboratory Medicine, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan. 4. Department of Medical Biotechnology and Laboratory Science, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Department of Laboratory Medicine, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan. 5. Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan; College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan. 6. Department of Medical Laboratory, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Department of Medical Biotechnology and Laboratory Science, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan. Electronic address: sulinhui@gmail.com. 7. Department of Medical Laboratory, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Department of Medical Biotechnology and Laboratory Science, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan. Electronic address: wutsulan@adm.cgmh.org.tw.
Abstract
BACKGROUND/PURPOSES: Vancomycin resistance increased significantly to 31.3% among Enterococcus faecium in 2006 and remained high thereafter at a university hospital in Taiwan. A longitudinal study was retrospectively conducted to characterize these vancomycin-resistant E. faecium (VRE-fm). METHODS: A total of 378 non-repetitive VRE-fm blood isolates collected during 2002-2015 were studied. Multilocus sequence typing, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, analysis of van genes and the Tn1546 structure, and conjugation experiments were performed. RESULTS: The majority (78.0%) of the isolates were associated with hospital-acquired infections. Molecular typing revealed nine major pulsotypes and five predominant sequence types (STs): ST17 (33.9%), ST78 (18.3%), ST414 (14.6%), ST18 (10.6%), and ST203 (7.4%). Fluctuation of these prevailing STs among the study years in association with some major pulsotypes was noted. All isolates carried vanA genes, except that in four isolates vanB genes were found. Among the vanA-carrying Tn1546-like elements, one predominant structure type (Type I, 55.9%) was noted throughout the study years. Since 2009, another predominant structure type (Type II, 40.1%) has emerged firstly in ST414 and gradually spread to other 11 STs in subsequent years. Isolates carrying these Type II Tn1546-like elements have become the most predominant population since 2014, majorly found in ST78 and ST17. Preliminary experiments indicated that plasmids carrying the Type II Tn1546-like elements demonstrated ten-fold higher efficiency than those carrying the Type I Tn1546-like elements. CONCLUSION: Dissemination of some major STs and horizontal transfer of plasmids carrying two major structure types of Tn1546-like elements may have together contributed to the increase of VRE-fm infection.
BACKGROUND/PURPOSES: Vancomycin resistance increased significantly to 31.3% among Enterococcus faecium in 2006 and remained high thereafter at a university hospital in Taiwan. A longitudinal study was retrospectively conducted to characterize these vancomycin-resistant E. faecium (VRE-fm). METHODS: A total of 378 non-repetitive VRE-fm blood isolates collected during 2002-2015 were studied. Multilocus sequence typing, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, analysis of van genes and the Tn1546 structure, and conjugation experiments were performed. RESULTS: The majority (78.0%) of the isolates were associated with hospital-acquired infections. Molecular typing revealed nine major pulsotypes and five predominant sequence types (STs): ST17 (33.9%), ST78 (18.3%), ST414 (14.6%), ST18 (10.6%), and ST203 (7.4%). Fluctuation of these prevailing STs among the study years in association with some major pulsotypes was noted. All isolates carried vanA genes, except that in four isolates vanB genes were found. Among the vanA-carrying Tn1546-like elements, one predominant structure type (Type I, 55.9%) was noted throughout the study years. Since 2009, another predominant structure type (Type II, 40.1%) has emerged firstly in ST414 and gradually spread to other 11 STs in subsequent years. Isolates carrying these Type II Tn1546-like elements have become the most predominant population since 2014, majorly found in ST78 and ST17. Preliminary experiments indicated that plasmids carrying the Type II Tn1546-like elements demonstrated ten-fold higher efficiency than those carrying the Type I Tn1546-like elements. CONCLUSION: Dissemination of some major STs and horizontal transfer of plasmids carrying two major structure types of Tn1546-like elements may have together contributed to the increase of VRE-fm infection.
Authors: Osama A Madkhali; Sivakumar Sivagurunathan Moni; Muhammad H Sultan; Haitham A Bukhary; Mohammed Ghazwani; Nabil A Alhakamy; Abdulkarim M Meraya; Saeed Alshahrani; Saad Saeed Alqahtani; Mohammed Ali Bakkari; M Intakhab Alam; Mohamed Eltaib Elmobark Journal: Sci Rep Date: 2021-05-10 Impact factor: 4.379
Authors: Jordy P M Coolen; Casper Jamin; Paul H M Savelkoul; John W A Rossen; Heiman F L Wertheim; Sébastien P Matamoros; Lieke B van Alphen Journal: Microb Genom Date: 2021-08