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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, December 2001, p. 4274-4282, Vol. 39, No. 12
Sera & Vaccines Central Research Laboratory,
00-725 Warsaw,1 and Bacteriology
Laboratory, University Hospital,2 and
Hematology Clinics of Collegium Medicum, Jagiellonian
University,3 31-501 Cracow, Poland
Received 7 June 2001/Returned for modification 11 August
2001/Accepted 15 September 2001
Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) have recently become an
increasing problem in hospitals in Poland, being responsible for a
growing number of nosocomial outbreaks. In this work, we have analyzed
the second outbreak of VRE with the VanB phenotype to be identified in
the country. It was caused by clonal dissemination of a single strain
of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis (VRES) and
horizontal transmission of vancomycin resistance genes among several
vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VREM) strains. Two similar restriction fragment length polymorphism types of
the vanB gene cluster characterized VRES and VREM
isolates, and they both contained the same vanB2 variant
of the vanB gene. Two vancomycin-susceptible E.
faecium (VSEM) isolates, recovered from the same wards during
the outbreak, proved to be related to certain VREM isolates and could
represent endemic strains that had acquired vancomycin resistance. One
VSEM and four VREM isolates, all identified in the same patient,
belonged to a single clone, although they revealed remarkable diversity
in terms of susceptibility, PFGE patterns, plasmid content, and number
of vanB gene cluster copies. Most probably they
reflected the dynamic evolution of an E. faecium strain
in the course of infection of a single patient. One of the VREM
isolates turned out to be resistant to teicoplanin, which coincided
with the use of this antibiotic in the patient's therapy. Its
vanB gene variant differed by a single mutation from that found in other isolates; however, it also lacked a large part of
the vanB gene cluster, including the regulatory genes vanRB and
-SB, and the vancomycin-inducible promoter PYB. Expression of the
resistance genes vanHB, -B, and -XB was
constitutive in the mutant, and this phenomenon was responsible for its
unusual phenotype.
0095-1137/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JCM.39.12.4274-4282.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Selection of a Teicoplanin-Resistant Enterococcus
faecium Mutant during an Outbreak Caused by
Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci with the VanB Phenotype
dzierska,2
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Sera & Vaccines
Central Research Laboratory, ul. Che
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