Occurrence of the vanA and vanC2/C3 genes in Enterococcus species isolatedfrom poultry sources in Malaysia

Enterococcus species isolated from poultry sources were characterized for t heir resistance to antibiotics, plasmid content, presence of van, genes and their diversity by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA-polymerase chain rea ction (RAPD-PCR). The results showed that all isolates were multi-resistanc e to the antibiotics tested. Ampicillin (15/70) followed by chloramphenicol (37/70) were the most active antibiotics tested against the Enterococcus s pp. isolates, while the overall resistant rates against the other antibioti cs were between 64.3% to 100%. All vancomycin-resistant E. faecalis, E. dur ans, E. hirae and E. faecium isolates tested by the disk diffusion assay we re positive in PCR detection for presence of vanA gene. All E. casseliflavu s isolates were positive for vanC2/C3 gene. However, none of the Enterococc us spp. isolates were positive for vanB and vanC1 genes. Plasmids ranging i n sizes between 1.1 to ca. 35.8 MDa were detected in 38/70 of the Enterococ cus isolates. When the genetic relationship among all isolates of the indiv idual species were tested by RAPD-PCR, genetic differences detected suggest ed a high genetic polymorphisms of isolates in each individual species. Our results indicates that further epidemiological studies are necessary to el ucidate the role of food animals as reservoir of VRE and the public health significance of infections caused by Enterococcus spp. (C) 2001 Elsevier Sc ience Inc. All rights reserved.