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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, February 2000, p. 905-909, Vol. 38, No. 2
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Epidemiology of Glycopeptide-Resistant Enterococci Colonizing High-Risk Patients in Hospitals in Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa

Anne von Gottberg, Wim van Nierop,* Adriano Dusé, Marlene Kassel, Kerrigan McCarthy, Adrian Brink,dagger Marilyn Meyers,dagger Raymond Smego, and Hendrik Koornhof

Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, University of the Witwatersrand, and the South African Institute for Medical Research, Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa

Received 2 June 1999/Returned for modification 4 October 1999/Accepted 19 November 1999

Recent cases of infections caused by glycopeptide-resistant enterococci (GRE) have highlighted the emergence of these organisms in the Republic of South Africa. During May 1998 we conducted a prevalence study in four hospitals in Johannesburg and obtained 184 rectal swabs from patients identified as being at high risk for GRE colonization. Twenty enterococcal isolates showing various glycopeptide resistance genotypes were recovered: 3 Enterococcus faecium vanA isolates, 10 E. faecium vanB isolates, 6 E. gallinarum vanC1 isolates, and 1 E. avium vanA isolate. Macrorestriction analysis was used to demonstrate the clonal spread of GRE strains within hospitals. Evidence also demonstrated the likely persistence of the original E. faecium vanA isolate associated with the first confirmed death contributed to by GRE infection in South Africa in March 1997.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: P.O. Box 2115, Houghton 2041, Republic of South Africa. Phone: 11 489 8587. Fax: 11 489 8530. E-mail: 174wim{at}chiron.wits.ac.za.

dagger Present address: Drs Bruinette, Kramer, and Partners, Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, February 2000, p. 905-909, Vol. 38, No. 2
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.




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