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Home / International Journal of Environmental Health Research, Volume 28, Number 6

Prevalence of virulence determinants and antibiotic resistance patterns of Enterococcus faecalis strains in patients with community-acquired urinary tract infections in Iran

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Authors: Karimi 1 ; Ghalavand 2 ; Fallah 1 ; Eslami 3 ; Parvin 4 ; Alebouyeh 5 ; Rashidan 6 ; 

Source: International Journal of Environmental Health Research, Volume 28, Number 6, 2 November 2018, pp. 599-608(10)

Publisher: Taylor and Francis Ltd

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09603123.2018.1497777

The aim of this study was to characterize virulence factors and antibiotic resistance patterns in E. faecalis strains obtained from community-acquired urinary tract infections. A total of 70 E. faecalis isolates from Labbafinejad Hospital in Tehran were collected. Antibiotic resistance and virulence determinants were examined by phenotypic and molecular methods.

Among 70 E. faecalis isolates, efba (97.1%), ace (95.7%), and gelE (94.3%) were the most prevalent virulence genes. The most common antibiotic resistance pattern was tetracycline (88.6%) and minocycline (87.1%). Multi-drug resistant phenotype was detected among 10% of them.

Our results showed capability of E. faecalis strains for infection of the urinary tract in community. Involvement of virulence determinants in the pathogenesis of community acquired E. faecalis strains was proposed due to their high prevalence rates. Food producing animals were proposed as their environmental reservoirs, due to dominance of tetracycline resistance phenotype among them.

Keywords: Antibiotic resistance; Enterococcus faecalis; urinary tract infection; virulence factors

Document Type: Research Article

Affiliations: 1: Pediatric Infection Research Center, Research Institute for Children Health, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2: Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR, Iran 3: Department of Microbiology, Milad Hospital, Tehran, IR, Iran 4: Department of Pathology, Labbafinejad Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 5: Foodborne and Waterborne Diseases Research Center, Research Institute for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Shahid Beheshsti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 6: School of medicine, Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Shahroud, Iran

Publication date: 02 November 2018

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