Vancomycin-resistant enterococci from Portuguese wastewater treatment plants

✍ Scribed by Carlos Araújo; Carmen Torres; Nuno Silva; Catarina Carneiro; Alexandre Gonçalves; Hajer Radhouani; Susana Correia; Paulo Martins da Costa; Rui Paccheco; Myriam Zarazaga; Fernanda Ruiz-Larrea; Patrícia Poeta; Gilberto Igrejas

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 104 KB
• Volume: 50
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0233-111X
• DOI: 10.1002/jobm.201000102

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the incidence of vancomycin resistant enterococci in sludge and sewage of urban and poultry‐slaughterhouse wastewater treatment plants. A total of 17 vancomycin resistant enterococci (eight vanA ‐containing Enterococcus faecium and nine vanC1/vanC2 ‐containing Enterococcus gallinarum/casseliflavus) were found among 499 isolates of sewage and sludge samples of 14 urban and nine poultry‐slaughterhouse wastewater treatment plants. These seventeen VRE isolates showed resistance to kanamycin (n = 8), tetracycline (n = 7), erythromycin (n = 7), ciprofloxacin (n = 7), ampicillin (n = 7), streptomycin (n = 6), and gentamicin (n = 2). The tetM gene, related with tetracycline resistance, was found in six of eight van A‐containing isolates, in all seven vanC‐1 isolates and in one of two v__anC‐2__ isolates. The ermB gene in seven erythromycin‐resistant isolates; and the aac6 ′‐aph2 ″ gene in the two high‐level‐gentamicin‐resistant isolates. Moreover, two vanA ‐containing E. faecium isolates harbored the hyl virulence gene, and three isolates the entA bacteriocin gene. The purK‐1 allele was detected in our urban vanA ‐containing E. faecium isolate, and we found as well the purK‐6 allele in one poultry‐slaughterhouse vanA ‐containing E. faecium isolate. This study suggests that the wastewater treatment plants might be an important source of dissemination of antibiotic‐resistant enterococci in Portugal. (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)