Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy logoLink to Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
. 1996 Oct;40(10):2285–2287. doi: 10.1128/aac.40.10.2285

Presence of vancomycin-resistant enterococci in farm and pet animals.

L A Devriese 1, M Ieven 1, H Goossens 1, P Vandamme 1, B Pot 1, J Hommez 1, F Haesebrouck 1
PMCID: PMC163520  PMID: 8891131

Abstract

Enterococcus faecium strains with vanA-mediated glycopeptide resistance were isolated by enrichment culture from the intestines and feces of several animal species, mainly horses and dogs (8% positive), chickens (7% positive), and pigs (6% positive). Other vanA-positive enterococcal strains were identified as E. durans in gallinaceous birds, E. faecalis in a horse, and E. gallinarum in a pheasant. Samples from pigeons, cage birds, and ruminants were negative. It was concluded that vancomycin resistance is widespread among isolates from farm and pet animals.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (178.4 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Aarestrup F. M. Occurrence of glycopeptide resistance among Enterococcus faecium isolates from conventional and ecological poultry farms. Microb Drug Resist. 1995 Fall;1(3):255–257. doi: 10.1089/mdr.1995.1.255. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bates J., Jordens J. Z., Griffiths D. T. Farm animals as a putative reservoir for vancomycin-resistant enterococcal infection in man. J Antimicrob Chemother. 1994 Oct;34(4):507–514. doi: 10.1093/jac/34.4.507. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Clark N. C., Cooksey R. C., Hill B. C., Swenson J. M., Tenover F. C. Characterization of glycopeptide-resistant enterococci from U.S. hospitals. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1993 Nov;37(11):2311–2317. doi: 10.1128/aac.37.11.2311. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Devriese L. A., Pot B., Collins M. D. Phenotypic identification of the genus Enterococcus and differentiation of phylogenetically distinct enterococcal species and species groups. J Appl Bacteriol. 1993 Nov;75(5):399–408. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2672.1993.tb02794.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Dutka-Malen S., Blaimont B., Wauters G., Courvalin P. Emergence of high-level resistance to glycopeptides in Enterococcus gallinarum and Enterococcus casseliflavus. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1994 Jul;38(7):1675–1677. doi: 10.1128/aac.38.7.1675. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Dutka-Malen S., Evers S., Courvalin P. Detection of glycopeptide resistance genotypes and identification to the species level of clinically relevant enterococci by PCR. J Clin Microbiol. 1995 Jan;33(1):24–27. doi: 10.1128/jcm.33.1.24-27.1995. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Dutta G. N., Devriese L. A. Susceptibility of fecal streptococci of poultry origin to nine growth-promoting agents. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1982 Oct;44(4):832–837. doi: 10.1128/aem.44.4.832-837.1982. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Gordts B., Van Landuyt H., Ieven M., Vandamme P., Goossens H. Vancomycin-resistant enterococci colonizing the intestinal tracts of hospitalized patients. J Clin Microbiol. 1995 Nov;33(11):2842–2846. doi: 10.1128/jcm.33.11.2842-2846.1995. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Hall L. M., Chen H. Y., Williams R. J. Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus durans. Lancet. 1992 Oct 31;340(8827):1105–1105. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(92)93133-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Jordens J. Z., Bates J., Griffiths D. T. Faecal carriage and nosocomial spread of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium. J Antimicrob Chemother. 1994 Oct;34(4):515–528. doi: 10.1093/jac/34.4.515. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Klare I., Heier H., Claus H., Böhme G., Marin S., Seltmann G., Hakenbeck R., Antanassova V., Witte W. Enterococcus faecium strains with vanA-mediated high-level glycopeptide resistance isolated from animal foodstuffs and fecal samples of humans in the community. Microb Drug Resist. 1995 Fall;1(3):265–272. doi: 10.1089/mdr.1995.1.265. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Klare I., Heier H., Claus H., Witte W. Environmental strains of Enterococcus faecium with inducible high-level resistance to glycopeptides. FEMS Microbiol Lett. 1993 Jan 1;106(1):23–29. doi: 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1993.tb05930.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Thal L. A., Chow J. W., Mahayni R., Bonilla H., Perri M. B., Donabedian S. A., Silverman J., Taber S., Zervos M. J. Characterization of antimicrobial resistance in enterococci of animal origin. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1995 Sep;39(9):2112–2115. doi: 10.1128/aac.39.9.2112. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Torres C., Reguera J. A., Sanmartin M. J., Pérez-Díaz J. C., Baquero F. vanA-mediated vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus spp. in sewage. J Antimicrob Chemother. 1994 Mar;33(3):553–561. doi: 10.1093/jac/33.3.553. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Van der Auwera P., Pensart N., Korten V., Murray B. E., Leclercq R. Influence of oral glycopeptides on the fecal flora of human volunteers: selection of highly glycopeptide-resistant enterococci. J Infect Dis. 1996 May;173(5):1129–1136. doi: 10.1093/infdis/173.5.1129. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES