1. Phenotypic and genotypic characterization of Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium isolated from fish, vegetables, and humans.
- Author
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Mubarak AG, El-Zamkan MA, Younis W, Saleh SO, Abd-Elhafeez HH, and Yoseef AG
- Subjects
- Humans, Animals, Phenotype, Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections microbiology, Food Microbiology, Microbial Sensitivity Tests, Anti-Bacterial Agents pharmacology, Virulence Factors genetics, Enterococcus faecium genetics, Enterococcus faecium isolation & purification, Enterococcus faecium pathogenicity, Enterococcus faecium classification, Enterococcus faecalis genetics, Enterococcus faecalis isolation & purification, Enterococcus faecalis pathogenicity, Vegetables microbiology, Fishes microbiology, Genotype
- Abstract
Enterococci, common hospital-acquired infections in immunocompromised patients, have garnered attention in clinical microbiology. To determine the clinical relevance of enterococci as food-borne pathogens, 116 fish, 90 vegetables, and 120 human diarrheal samples were tested for E. faecalis and E. faecium pathogenicity. Conventionally, 69 of 326 (21.17%) samples were positive for Enterococcus species, 52 (15.95%) of which were molecularly classified as E. faecalis and 13 (3.99%) as E. faecium. The E. faecalis contamination percentage of fresh fish (19.70%) was higher than frozen fish (4%). Cauliflower had the highest E. faecalis percentage (16.67%) when fish and vegetable samples didn't harbor the E. faecium atpA gene. 23.33% and 10.83% of participants' samples were molecularly confirmed as E. faecalis and E. faecium positive, respectively. E. faecalis isolates had all virulence genes, with gels being the most common (65.38%), while cylA and asa1 genes couldn't be detected in E. faecium isolates. E. faecalis showed the highest resistance against vancomycin and tetracycline (69.23%), whereas E. faecium extremely resisted tetracycline (76.92%) and erythromycin (69.23%) with the recognition of MDR among 44.2% of E. faecalis and 38.5% of E. faecium isolates. The great similarity of our isolates showed the clinical importance of food-borne antibiotic-resistant enterococci., (© 2024. The Author(s).)
- Published
- 2024
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