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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, December 2001, p. 4571-4574, Vol. 39, No. 12
0095-1137/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JCM.39.12.4571-4574.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Dissemination of Clonally Unrelated Erythromycin- and Glycopeptide-Resistant Enterococcus faecium Isolates in a Tertiary Greek Hospital

Antonios N. Maniatis,¹ Spyros Pournaras,¹ Maria Kanellopoulou,² Fanourios Kontos,¹ Evangelia Dimitroulia,² Evangelos Papafrangas,² and Athanassios Tsakris^3,*

Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Thessalia, Larissa,¹ Department of Microbiology, Sismanoglion General Hospital, Athens,² and Department of Microbiology, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki,³ Greece

Received 7 May 2001/Returned for modification 5 August 2001/Accepted 15 September 2001

Between September 1999 to February 2001, 25 glycopeptide-resistant Enterococcus faecium (GRE) isolates were recovered from a Greek hospital. The isolates exhibited 13 distinct chromosomal macrorestriction types by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and all were erythromycin and vancomycin resistant, carrying the genes vanA and ermB. Vancomycin resistance, always linked with erythromycin resistance, was transferable from 17 isolates. The dissemination of erythromycin-resistant GRE strains may, at least in part, reflect the extensive use of macrolides in husbandry in Greece.

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^* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54006 Thessaloniki, Greece. Phone: 30 31 99 90 91. Fax: 30 31 99 91 49. E-mail: atsakris{at}med.auth.gr.

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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, December 2001, p. 4571-4574, Vol. 39, No. 12
0095-1137/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JCM.39.12.4571-4574.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

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