A cluster of VanD vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium: molecular characterization and clinical epidemiology.

Ostrowsky, B E; Clark, N C; Thauvin-Eliopoulos, C; Venkataraman, L; Samore, M H; Tenover, F C; Eliopoulos, G M; Moellering, R C et al. · J Infect Dis · 1999

case_series · Level IV

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Abstract

VanD-mediated glycopeptide resistance has been reported for an isolate of Enterococcus faecium, BM4339. Three clinical isolates of vancomycin-resistant E. faecium collected from 3 patients during a 6-week period in 1993 had agar dilution MICs of vancomycin and teicoplanin of 128 and 4 microg/mL, respectively. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using degenerate primers complementary to genes encoding d-Ala-d-X ligases yielded a 630-bp product that was similar to the published partial sequence of vanD. By use of inverse PCR, vanD, vanHD, and two partial flanking open-reading frames were sequenced. The deduced amino acid sequence of VanD showed 67% identity with VanA and VanB. vanD appeared to be located on the chromosome and was not transferable to other enterococci. The 3 isolates were indistinguishable by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and differed from BM4339. No other isolates carrying vanD were found in a subset of 875 recent US isolates of vancomycin-resistant enterococci.

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