Title Prevalence and Antibiotic Susceptibility of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci in Chicken Intestines and Fecal Samples from Healthy Young Children and Intensive Care Unit Patients
Author Shin Moo Kim 1 , Eun Sook Shim, and Chi Nam Seong *
Address Department of Biology, Sunchon National University, Sunchon 540-742 and 1 Department of Clinical Pathology, Wonkwang Health Science, Iksan 570-750, Ko
Bibliography Journal of Microbiology, 39(2),116-120, 2001,
DOI
Key Words prevalence, antibiotic susceptibility, vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE), healthy young childre
Abstract The prevalence, resistance genotype and antibiotic susceptibility of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) were determined. Prevalence of VRE in chickens, healthy children and intensive care unit (ICU) patients was 43.0%, 12.7% and 24.1%, respectively. Forty out of 56 isolates from chicken intestines were identified as Enterococcus faecium, and 12 were E. faecalis. All the isolates contained the vanA gene. Nine out of 13 VRE isolates from patients and two out of 21 from healthy young children were identified as E. faecium. The resistance types of E. faecium, E. gallinarium and E. casseliflavus were VanA, VanC1, and VanC2, respectively. The mimimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of E. faecium, E. gallinarium, and E. casseliflavus to vancomycin were 512, 8 and 4 g/ml, respectively. Specifically, E. faecium isolates were resistant to most of antibiotics except ampicillin and gentamicin. This is the first report of high VanA type VRE prevalence in nonhospitalized young children in Korea.
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