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ABSTRACT: Background: To determine the species distribution, updated drug susceptibility patterns and genes conferring resistance in clinical vancomycin resistant enterococcal (VRE) isolates. Methods: Clinical enterococcal isolates collected during 7 months, from September 2005 to April 2006 from hospitalized patients and outpatients were studied. Twenty five VRE were isolated from 450 enterococci samples (5.6%). VRE isolates were subjected to antibiotic susceptibility tests. Genotype of these isolates was determined by PCR. Results: All of the isolates were E. faecium and carried the vanA gene. Antibiotic susceptibility tests showed that the iso-lates were resistant to ampicillin 25(100%), ciprofloxacin 25(100%), gentamicin 24(96%), erythromycin 25(100%), tetracy-clin 10(40%) and chloramphenicol 2(8%). Conclusion: VRE strains were resistant to three antibiotics and were susceptible to new antibiotics linezolid and dalfopris-tin-quinupristin. Switching to treatment with these antibiotics would relieve the problem for a short time.
Iranian J Publ Health. 07/2012; 36:20-25.
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ABSTRACT: Background: Enterococci are members of the normal gut flora and released into the environment via sewage outlets, where they can survive for long times. Infections with high-level gentamicin resistant (HLGR) enterococci are emerging worldwide. HLGR enterococci have developed a resistance to most antibiotics commonly used for enterococcal infections therefore; treatment of infections caused by HLGR enterococci is difficult. The present study investigated the distribution and antibiotic resistance of HLGR Enterococcus faecium and E. faecalis isolates from raw wastewater samples in Tehran. Methods: Raw wastewater samples were collected during the period from November 2006 to May 2007 at 3 sewage treatment plants located in different parts of Tehran. All 90 HLGR enterococcal isolates were identified to the species level by biochemical and PCR assays and subjected to antibiotic susceptibility testing. Results: Sixty four percent (58 of 90) of isolates were E. faecium and 29%(26 of 90) of them were E. faecalis. The highest level of antibiotic resistance was observed with erythromycin (63%), co-trimoxazole (69%) and tetracycline (92%) for E.faecalis and with erythromycin (97%), ciprofloxacin (47%), co-trimoxazole (45.5%) and tetracycline (47%) for E. faecium. Multiresistance against 3 to 4 antimicrobial was present in 27.5% and 15.5% of the isolates, respectively. Conclusion: HLGR E. faecium were more commonly found than E. faecalis. Species identification of HLGR entero-cocci enables us to assess species-specific antibiotic susceptibility patterns in our area. The present study reviled that HLGR E. faecalis remained more susceptible than E. faecium against the usual first-line and alternative treatments.
Iranian J Publ Health. 01/2008; 37:103-107.
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ABSTRACT: Background: Epidemic and endemic cholera is a major public health problem for many countries. Aim of this study was to evaluate AP-PCR for investigation of clonal relatedness among the strains of Vibrio cholerae recovered from an outbreak occurred in different parts of Iran in 2005. Methods: The study was conducted during the cholera outbreak occurred in some of provinces in Iran in summer 2005. Bacterial isolation and identification was carried out according to the standard bacteriological methods. Arbitrarily primed PCR (AP-PCR) used to study the genetic relatedness between the V.cholerae isolates. Results: Thirty-nine isolates of V.cholerae O1 were identified. All isolates belonged to serotype Inaba. AP-PCR could dif-ferentiate the isolates into five groups. AP-PCR cluster types 1 and 2 were the most prevalent groups, accounting for 36% and 41%, respectively, of V.cholerae isolates. Conclusion: The most of epidemic strains of V.cholerae O1 isolated in the year 2005 could be attributed to two pre-dominant clusters including AP-PCR cluster types 1 and 2 accounting for more than 77% of isolates. In conclusion, a few epidemic clones were responsible for the apparently epidemic occurrence of cholera in provinces studied.
Iranian J Publ Health. 01/2008; 37:83-87.
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ABSTRACT: In recent years, the importance of Shigella as an enteric pathogen with global impact has been increasingly recognized. In this study, serogroup distribution of Shigella isolated from clinically diagnosed cases of gastroenteritis and acute diarrhea in Tehran, capital of Iran was investigated between December 2002 and November 2003. Fecal specimens and rectal swabs were cultured for Shigella spp. using standard microbiological techniques. The isolates of Shigella were identified by biochemical assay and serological testing. From a total of 302 Shigella isolates, 178, 110, 10 and 4 strains were identified as S.sonnei (58.9%; 95% CI: 53.2-64.5), S. flexneri (36.4%; 95% CI: 31.0-42.2), S.boydii (3.3%), and S. dysenteriae (1.3%), respectively. The peak of infection occurred during summer. Overall, 167 patients (55.3%) were males and 135 (44.7%) were females.
