Intrahospital spread of a single gentamicin-resistant, beta-lactamase-producing strain of Enterococcus faecalis in Argentina

Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1992 Jan;36(1):230-2. doi: 10.1128/AAC.36.1.230.

Abstract

Six beta-lactamase-producing (Bla+) isolates of Enterococcus faecalis recovered over a 17-month period from an Argentinian pediatric hospital were found to have identical or almost identical chromosomal restriction patterns by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, although the plasmid patterns were different. These isolates, like Bla+ enterococci in the United States, hybridized to a staphylococcal Bla gene probe. The presence of a single strain was somewhat surprising, since all isolates transferred Bla by conjugation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Argentina
  • Drug Resistance, Microbial
  • Enterococcus faecalis / enzymology
  • Enterococcus faecalis / genetics
  • Enterococcus faecalis / isolation & purification*
  • Genome, Bacterial
  • Gentamicins / pharmacology*
  • Hospitals, Pediatric*
  • Humans
  • Hybridization, Genetic
  • Plasmids
  • beta-Lactamases / metabolism*

Substances

  • Gentamicins
  • beta-Lactamases