Strong biofilm production, antibiotic multi-resistance and high gelE expression in epidemic clones of Enterococcus faecalis from orthopaedic implant infections
✍ Scribed by Carla Renata Arciola; Lucilla Baldassarri; Davide Campoccia; Roberta Creti; Valter Pirini; Johannes Huebner; Lucio Montanaro
- Book ID
- 104003645
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2008
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 228 KB
- Volume
- 29
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0142-9612
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✦ Synopsis
Enterococcus faecalis is an opportunistic pathogen, which today represents one of the leading aetiologic agents of nosocomial infections and, increasingly, of implant infections. Here, in a collection of 43 E. faecalis isolated from implant orthopaedic infections, virulence-related phenotypes (biofilm and gelatinase production) and genotypes (gelE and esp) were studied to characterize epidemic clones identified and grouped by ribotyping. The presence of the esp gene and a marked and steady biofilm formation ability appeared to be the features associated with the clonal spreading, as well as a conspicuous gelatinase production, whereas the simple presence of gelE appeared non-specific of the epidemic clones. Antibiotic multi-resistance and strong biofilm production abilities together with a high phenotypic expression of gelatinase are an important equipment of E. faecalis to colonize peri-prosthesis tissues and to spread out as causative agents of implant orthopaedic infections.