ARRANGEMENT OF THE VANA GENE-CLUSTER IN ENTEROCOCCI OF DIFFERENT ECOLOGICAL ORIGIN

Glycopeptide-resistant enterococci (vanA) isolated from infections in humans, from non-hospitalized humans, from sewage, from animal feces a nd from meat products in Germany (20 Enterococcus faecium and one Ente rococcus hirae) were investigated for the arrangement of the genes in the vanA gene cluster by means of overlapping PCR with five primer pai rs. In 20 of these strains, the vanA gene clusters were uniform which suggests a horizontal spread among different ecosystems. In one clinic al isolate a rearrangement was detected in the van Y-vanZ region.