Comparison of enterococcal populations related to urban and hospital wastewater in various climatic and geographic European regions

作者：Anicet R. Blanch, J. L. Caplin, Aina Iversen, Ingolf Kühn, Albert Manero, Huw Taylor, Xavier Manteca Vilanova · 发表于：Journal of Applied Microbiology · 年份：2003 · DOI：10.1046/j.1365-2672.2003.01919.x · 被引用次数：118 · 研究领域：Fecal contamination and water quality、Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts、Antimicrobial Resistance in Staphylococcus

AIMS: Scarce knowledge about the distribution of enterococci species in wastewaters limits any statement on their reliability as faecal indicators or the implications of antibiotic resistance transmission by these organisms through the water cycle. Enterococci have been involved in nosocomial infections and the spreading of antibiotic resistance through the food chain. The species distribution of enterococci and the presence of resistant strains to vancomycin and erythromycin were analysed in more than 400 raw and treated urban wastewaters, surface waters receiving these treated wastewaters and hospital wastewaters from three European countries. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 9296 strains were isolated and biochemically phenotyped. The species identification was based on the comparison of biochemical profiles with those of more than 20000 enterococci isolates from an international study. The prevalence of enterococcal isolates resistant to erythromycin (ERE) and vancomycin (VRE) was also analysed. ERE strains were present in a high proportion in all the studied samples. VRE strains were also isolated in all studied countries despite the time elapsed since the use of antimicrobial glycopeptides in animal production was banned in the European Union. CONCLUSIONS: Enterococcus faecalis and Ent. faecium were the most abundant species in all the studied wastewaters. All the studied wastewaters demonstrated high diversity and similar population structure and composition. ERE and VR...