Abstract
In order to investigate the reasons of lamb death, 11 bacteria were isolated from the brain, liver and other tissues of natural infectious lambs presenting neurological symptoms and septicaemia as the main clinical feature from different farm of two regions in Xinjiang, China in recent years. They were identified as Enterococcus faecalis according to morphological, cultural and biochemical characteri-zation. The infecting strains were identified as belonging to serotype D, G or to an unidentified serotype with Lancefild Group A to G Latex Diagnostic Kit. All 11 E. faecalis pathogens were resistant to norfloxacin, penicillin, tetracycline, streptomycin, gentamicin and erythromycin at varying degrees. PCR screening for nine common virulence factor genes associated with Enterococcusspecies revealed the presence of eight virulence factor genes (esp, cylA, asa1, ace, efa, gelE, ef0591 and ef3314) in 11 of the isolates, five genes were present in all strains examined and gelE was present in 1 pathogenic strain examined. Nine virulence factor genes were not present in two strains examined. Virulence gene analy-sis revealed a 96% homology to Enterococcal genes from pathogenic E. faecalis sequences deposited in GenBank. Some genus from Enterococcus can also lead to the infection and death of lambs. Key words: Lamb, encephalitis, identification of Enterococcus faecalis, virulence factor gene
Highlights
Enterococcus species are Gram-positive bacteria that comprise part of the natural gastrointestinal tract flora of both humans and animals (Lance et al, 2009)
In order to investigate the reasons of lamb death, 11 bacteria were isolated from the brain, liver and other tissues of natural infectious lambs presenting neurological symptoms and septicaemia as the main clinical feature from different farm of two regions in Xinjiang, China in recent years
PCR screening for nine common virulence factor genes associated with Enterococcus species revealed the presence of eight virulence factor genes in 11 of the isolates, five genes were present in all strains examined and gelE was present in 1 pathogenic strain examined
Summary
Enterococcus species are Gram-positive bacteria that comprise part of the natural gastrointestinal tract flora of both humans and animals (Lance et al, 2009). Enterococcus are opportunistic pathogens and are the causative agents of infective endocarditis, meningitis, pneumonia, surgical wound, burn, skin and soft tissue, urinary tract, bone and joint infections (Kavindra et al, 2010). It includes 16 species in which Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis) had the highest isolation rate (Li, 2006). Natural and acquired resistance of Enterococcus species to many antimicrobial agents has led to the emergence of significant cases of nosocomial infections in recent decades (Mannua et al, 2003; Moro et al, 2004; Rice et al, 2003). One of the reseasons that enterococcus infections is becoming more serious is it’s special resistance, but virulence factor is another very important factor, more than 10 kinds of virulence factors have been found in clinical isolates currently, it includes haemolysin activator (cylA), gelatinase (gelE), E. faecalis surface proteins (esp), endocarditis antigen (efaA), collagen-binding protein (ace) and 2 new surface proteins (ef0591 and ef3314) etc. (Creti et al, 2004)
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