Abstract
BackgroundEnterococci have emerged as an important opportunistic pathogen causing life-threatening infections in hospitals. The emergence of this pathogen is associated with a remarkable capacity to accumulate resistance to antimicrobials and multidrug-resistance particularly to vancomycin, erythromycin and streptomycin have become a major cause of concern for the infectious diseases community. In this paper, we report the prevalence of Enterococcus in respect to species distribution, their virulence and antibiogram profiles.MethodsFour hundred fecal samples were collected from two piggery farms in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Enterococcus species were isolated and confirmed with generic specific primers targeting the tuf gene (encoding elongation factor). The confirmed isolates were speciated with enterococci species specific primers that aimed at delineating them into six species that are commonly associated with infections in humans. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed by disc diffusion method. Six virulence genes and antimicrobial resistance profiles of the isolates were evaluated molecularly.ResultsMolecular identification of the presumptive isolates confirmed 320 isolates as Enterococcus spp. Attempt at speciation of the isolates with primers specific for E. faecalis, E. durans, E. casseliflavus, E. hirae and E. faecium delineated them as follows: E. faecalis (12.5 %), E. hirae (31.25 %), E. durans (18.75 %) and E. faecium (37.5 %) while E. casseliflavus was not detected. All the isolates were resistant to vancomycin, streptomycin and cloxacillin, and to at least two different classes of antibiotics, with 300 (93.8 %) isolates being resistant to five or more antibiotics. Also, three out of the six virulence genes were detected in majority of the isolates and they are Adhesion of collagen in E. faecalis (ace) (96.88 %), gelatinase (gelE) (93.13 %) and surface protein (esp) (67.8 %).ConclusionThere was high prevalence of multi-resistant vancomycin Enterococcus spp. (VREs) in the fecal samples of pigs in the farms studied, and this poses health implications as vancomycin is an important drug in human medicine. Further studies are needed to determine the spread of vancomycin resistance among bacteria of human origin in the communities.
Highlights
Enterococci have emerged as an important opportunistic pathogen causing life-threatening infections in hospitals
We report on the virulence and antimicrobial resistance profiles of Enterococcus spp. isolated from fecal samples collected from piggery farms in the Nkonkonbe municipality in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa
A total of 320 presumptive isolates were recovered from the 400 fecal samples collected from the breeder pigs in a 600 and 3,000 sizes heard that have been exposed to tylosin, advocin, ampicillin, and penicillin G antibiotics
Summary
Enterococci have emerged as an important opportunistic pathogen causing life-threatening infections in hospitals. Enterococcus spp., ubiquitous in nature and a common commensal of the intestinal microbiota of humans and animals, have emerged as one of the most prevalent nosocomial pathogens worldwide [1]. Several factors such as their propensity and inherent ability to acquired resistance to antimicrobials [2], putative virulence traits, biofilm forming capability [3], and ability to horizontally transfer antimicrobial resistance and virulence determinants to other bacteria [4] are attributable to these abilities. Vancomycin resistance among enterococci spread via the dissemination of mobile genetic elements of variants of the vanA-type element Tn1546 mostly located on conjugative plasmids [16, 17]
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