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A total of 359 vancomycin-resistant enterococci (344 Enterococcus faecium and 15 E. faecalis) collected during 2007 from eight tertiary-care hospitals in Greece were analysed for genotypic characteristics. Four common clones, ST412, ST203, ST16 and ST17, were identified among E. faecium and one clone, ST28, among E. faecalis strains.

Recurrent tonsillitis is 1 of the common human infectious diseases worldwide, but, to date, its pathogenesis remains unclear. Although Streptococcus pyogenes (GAS) is involved in recurrent bouts of acute tonsillitis, conventional cultures usually fail to isolate it. The purpose of this study was to clarify whether the deep tonsillar tissues of patients with recurrent tonsillitis might harbour GAS, resulting in reinfections. Deep tonsillar tissues obtained from 285 patients with recurrent tonsillitis and 172 patients with tonsillar hypertrophy, who had undergone tonsillectomy, were examined for the presence of GAS, using conventional and molecular methods. Cultures from all patients were negative for GAS. GAS DNA was found in the deep tonsillar tissues of 57 out of 285 patients with recurrences (20%), and GAS RNA, indicating the viability of GAS, was detected in 47 of them (82%). On the other hand, Haemophilus influenzae DNA was found in 15% and 16% of patients with recurrences and hypertrophy, respectively; but no Haemophilus influenzae RNA presence was detected. The low level of presence of GAS in patients with recurrent tonsillitis indicates that other unknown factors may be responsible for the recurrences.

Background: 14 linezolid-resistant enterococci (6 Enterococcus faecium and 8 Enterococcus faecalis) collected during 2009 from patients hospitalized in intensive care units of different Greek hospitals were investigated. Methods: The mechanism of resistance to linezolid was determined by sequencing analysis of the domain V of 23S rDNA, while the clonal relatedness was defined by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and multilocus sequence typing. Results: All linezolid-resistant enterococci carried the G2576T mutation. E. faecium belonged to the international epidemic clones ST16, ST17, ST203 and ST65, while all E. faecalis strains belonged to the ST28 clone. Conclusions: The spread of common linezolid-resistant enterococcal clones in intensive care units located in different areas of Greece emphasizes the importance of application of infection control measures to prevent the spread of such strains.