Biofilm synthesis and presence of virulence factors among enterococci isolated from XXXX and water samples.

@entity1 @entity2176 @entity20297 @entity797 @entity6375 @entity10223
The goal of this study was to compare biofilm synthesis among enterococci recovered from clinical samples (infection or colonization) of @entity1 as well as environmental samples in order to determine possible virulence factors and clonal relationship. During a two-year period, clinical samples (blood, catheter tips, bronchial secretions, wounds, peritoneal fluid, urine) and rectal swabs collected from hospitalized @entity1 as well as environmental water samples were tested for the presence of @entity797 and @entity797 faecium. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed by the disc diffusion method and Etest. Strains were tested for the presence of vanA, vanB, @entity10223 , ace and asp genes by PCR. Clones were identified by @entity20297 (SmaI). From infected @entity1 , 48 strains were identified: 24 @entity6375 (10 vanA-positive, 14 @entity2176 -susceptible) and 24 @entity797 (one vanA-positive, 23 @entity2176 -susceptible). Among 143 colonizing isolates, 134 were @entity6375 (58 vanA-positive, 11 vanB-positive, 65 @entity2176 -susceptible) and nine @entity797 (three vanA-positive, two vanB-positive, four @entity2176 -susceptible). Among 167 environmental water samples, 51 @entity797 and 19 @entity6375 isolates, all glycopeptide-susceptible, were recovered. In total, 64 strains produced biofilm, whereas 34 were @entity10223 -positive, 64 asp-positive and 54 ace-positive. Biofilm production was associated with the presence of @entity10223 (P   <   0.001) and ace genes (P   =   0.021), being higher in infecting (P   <   0.001) and water (P 0.005) isolates as compared with colonizing ones. Clones of environmental water-strains were different than the @entity1 ' clones. The differences found in the incidence of antibiotic resistance, virulence factors and clones suggest that hospital and water enterococci are of different origin.
