Evaluation of the extent of spreading of virulence factors and antibiotic resistance in Enterococci isolated from fermented and unfermented foods

Prevalence, characterization and antibiotic resistance of enterococci from traditional cheeses in Turkey

“…[3,29] In our study, E. faecalis was identified as the dominant species. Our findings were in agreement with the results reported by Jamet et al, [5] Morandi et al, [7] Abouelnaga et al, [9] Nieto-Arribas et al, [24] Templer and Baumgartner. [35] There were same data that E. faecalis isolated from traditional cheeses and was the most frequently detected species in Turkey, as previously reported by Kürekçi et al, [27] Muş et al, [29] Toğay et al, [30] Çıtak et al [36] In contrast to our findings, previous works [10,11,18,25,28,34,37] have reported that higher incidence of E. faecium strains was isolated from various cheese samples.…”

“…As enterococci are naturally resistant to nalidixic acid, it was not used in the definition of multiple-drug resistance. Abouelnaga et al, [9] Rafaat et al, [10] Yüceer and Tuncer [44] detected the same results with 83%, 78% and 68% respectively. In contrast, lower incidence (24.59%) were found by Bulajic et al [41] A total of 199 Enterococcus strains displayed resistance to at least two antibiotics (from 2 to 5 out of the 12 antibiotics tested).…”

“…These tests were gram staining, catalase production, growth in TSB with 6.5% NaCL, growth at pH 9.6, esculin hydrolysis on Bile Esculin Azide Agar (Merck, Germany) and growth at 10°C-45°C. [9] Determination of hemolytic activity The hemolytic activity was determined on TSA containing 5% (w/v) sheep blood plates and kept at 37°C for 24-48 h, under anaerobic condition. [19] The zones around developing colonies formed on the bloody agar were examined.…”

“…Enterococcus strains in dairy products have desirable metabolic traits because of their role of ripening and the development of flavour, probably by way of proteolysis, lipolysis, exopolysaccharide production and their diacetyl production by citrate metabolisms. [9] In addition to their technological properties, some enterococci, mainly E. faecalis and E. faecium, produced inhibitory substances called as bacteriocins that are capable of inhibiting the growth of food pathogens and spoilage microorganisms such as Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus including vegetative cells as well as spores. [10] On the other hand, the enterococci species caused nosocomial infections including endocarditis, bacteremia, biliary and urinary tract, central nervous system infections have also led to debates about the use of enterococcal strains as starter cultures.…”

Assessment of food safety using a new real-time PCR assay for detection and quantification of virulence factors of enterococci in food samples

“…Meat and dairy products can play a clear role in the dissemination of virulence genes through the enterococcus food chain, especially within strains from fermented foods (Abouelnaga et al . ). To cause infection, enterococci must possess virulence factors that allow the infecting strains to colonize and invade the host tissue and to translocate through epithelial cells and evade the host's immune response (Johnson ).…”