Whole Genome Sequencing of Vancomycin Resistant Enterococcus faecium Isolated from Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Enterococcus faecium are one of the most prevalent species cultured from humans and they have become increasingly common cause of infections in the hospital settings globally. The objective of current study was to characterize 26 E. faecium isolates collected from different patients attending Maternity Hospital in Ha’il, Saudi Arabia. The bacterial isolates were identified by MALDI-TOF-MS and the antibiotic susceptibility was performed by Microscan. Whole genome sequencing of a single vancomycin resistant E. faecium (VRE) was performed using MiSeq. The results of antimicrobial susceptibility revealed that, 99%, 90%, 83% and 73% of isolates were resistant to Clindamycin, Gentamicin, Oxacillin and Tetracycline respectively. One (3%) among 26 E. faecium isolates was found to produce resistance to vancomycin. The WGS analysis of VRE showed that it belonged to ST280 and was found to harbor vanB gene cassette. This is the first report of VRE from the Ha’il region of Saudi Arabia. VRE may act as a reservoir for multidrug resistant genes and other important virulence factors that favor the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance. Therefore, the surveillance studies to prevent dissemination of VRE shall be implemented in the healthcare facilities all across Saudi Arabia.

Assessment of risk factors associated with multidrug-resistant organism infections among patients admitted in a tertiary hospital - a retrospective study

“…Recently, the prevalence of MDROs, including MRSA, in nosocomial and community settings has increased in Saudi Arabia ( Nazeer and Al-Tawfiq, 2012 , Al-Asmari et al, 2015 , Baig et al, 2015 , Farah et al, 2019 ). Vancomycin-resistant enterococci, Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium , have developed considerable resistance to several antibiotics, such as penicillin, macrolides, sulfamethoxazole, and aminoglycosides ( Khan et al, 2018 ). Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates are developing resistance to penicillin, while resistance to cotrimoxazole and macrolides is increasing in other species ( Yezli et al, 2012 , Cherazard et al, 2017 ).…”