Genomic insights to control the emergence of vancomycin-resistant enterococci

BP Howden; KE Holt; MMC Lam; T Seemann; S Ballard; GW Coombs; SYC Tong; M Lindsay Grayson; PDR Johnson; TP Stinear

Journal article

Genomic insights to control the emergence of vancomycin-resistant enterococci

BP Howden, KE Holt, MMC Lam, T Seemann, S Ballard, GW Coombs, SYC Tong, M Lindsay Grayson, PDR Johnson, TP Stinear

Mbio | Published : 2013

DOI: 10.1128/mBio.00412-13

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Abstract

Nosocomial outbreaks of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VREfm) are thought to occur by transmission of VREfm between patients, predicting that infection control interventions will limit cross-transmission. Despite implementation of such strategies, the incidence of VREfm infections continues to rise. We aimed to use genomics to better understand the epidemiology of E. faecium within a large hospital and investigate the reasons for failure of infection control strategies. Wholegenome sequencing was performed on 61 E. faecium (36 VREfm) isolates, predominately from blood cultures collected at a single hospital between 1998 and 2009, and on five vanB-positive anaerobic commensal bact..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Ben Howden Author

Torsten Seemann Author

Steven Tong Author

Paul Johnson Author

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Grants

Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council

Funding Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia (number 1027874) and the Austin Hospital Medical Research Foundation. Fellowships from the NHMRC of Australia supported B. P. H. (number 1023526), K. E. H. (number 628930), S.Y.C.T. (number 508829), and T. P. S. (number 1008549).