Human and Swine Hosts Share Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus faecium CC17 and CC5 and Enterococcus faecalis CC2 Clonal Clusters Harboring Tn1546 on Indistinguishable Plasmids.

Ana R. Freitas, Teresa M. Coque, Carla Novais, Anette M. Hammerum, Camilla M. Lester, Marcus J. Zervos, Susan Donabedian, Lars Bogø Jensen, Maria Victoria Francia, Fernando Baquero, Luisa Peixe

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Abstract

VRE isolates from pigs (n = 29) and healthy persons (n = 12) recovered during wide surveillance studies performed in Portugal, Denmark, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States (1995 to 2008) were compared with outbreak/prevalent VRE clinical strains (n = 190; 23 countries; 1986 to 2009). Thirty clonally related Enterococcus faecium clonal complex 5 (CC5) isolates (17 sequence type 6 [ST6], 6 ST5, 5 ST185, 1 ST147, and 1 ST493) were obtained from feces of swine and healthy humans. This collection included isolates widespread among pigs of European Union (EU) countries since the mid-1990s. Each ST comprised isolates showing similar pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns (≤6 bands difference; >82% similarity). Some CC5 PFGE subtype strains from swine were indistinguishable from hospital vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) causing infections. A truncated variant of Tn1546 (encoding resistance to vancomycin) and tcrB (coding for resistance to copper) were consistently located on 150- to 190-kb plasmids (rep(pLG1)). E. faecium CC17 (ST132) isolates from pig manure and two clinical samples showed identical PFGE profiles and contained a 60-kb mosaic plasmid (rep(Inc18) plus rep(pRUM)) carrying diverse Tn1546-IS1216 variants. The only Enterococcus faecalis isolate obtained from pigs (CC2-ST6) corresponded to a multidrug-resistant clone widely disseminated in hospitals in Italy, Portugal, and Spain, and both animal and human isolates harbored an indistinguishable 100-kb mosaic plasmid (rep(pRE25) plus rep(pCF10)) containing the whole Tn1546 backbone. The results indicate a current intra- and international spread of E. faecium and E. faecalis clones and their plasmids among swine and humans
Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Clinical Microbiology
Volume49
Issue number3
Pages (from-to)925-931
ISSN0095-1137
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2011

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