• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.7-18
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• 2007

A total of 1,780 isolates of Enterococcus spp. were isolated from 63,133 clinical specimens from Dec 1, 2005 to Nov 1, 2006 in "C" hospital. Isolation frequencies of Enterococcus spp. were 50.9% for E. faecalis, 41.7% for E. faecium, and 7.4% for other Enterococcus spp. containing E. avium, E. gallinarum, E. casseliflavus, E. durans, E. hirae, and E. raffinosus. There were no significant difference between gender, but according to the age group analysis, Enterococcus spp. were more frequently isolated in patients over 50 years old (20.0~24.6%) than those isolated from the patients under the age of 0~49 (1.3~9.4%). In monthly analysis, Enterococcus spp. were the most frequently isolated in April (11.9%), but presented at lowest frequency in February (5.2%). Seasonal analysis did not show a significant difference. Over half of enterococci were isolated from random urine (44.9%) and catherterized urine (15.7%). Frequencies of vancomycin resistant E. faecalis and E. faecium were 0.1% and 31.0%, respectively. Teicoplanin resistant Enterococcus was 13.3% in E. faecalis, 17.6 % in E. faecium. The Enterococcus species showing over 80% susceptibility against antimicrobial agents were E. faecalis, E. durans and E. hirae in vancomycin; E. faecalis, E. gallinarum, E. casseliflavus, E. durans and E. hirae in ampicillin. The antimicrobial agent showing susceptibility against whole group of Enterococcus species was only linezolid (95.9%), and a selection of antimicrobial agent is necessary to do essential performance identification and susceptibility tests.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.60-66
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• 2014

This test was performed to evaluate the bactericidal efficacy of a fumigation disinfectant containing 20% ortho-phenylphenol against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) and Enterococcus hirae (E. hirae). In preliminary tests, P. aeruginosa and E. hirae working culture suspension number (N value) were $2.8{\times}10^8$ and $4.0{\times}10^8CFU/mL$, respectively. And all the colony numbers on the carriers exposed to the fumigant (n1, n2, n3) were higher than 0.5N1 (the number of bacterial test suspentions by pour plate method), 0.5N2 (the number of bacterial test suspentions by filter membrane method) and 0.5N1, respectively. In addition, the mean number of P. aeruginosa and E. hirae recovered on the control-carriers (T value) was $2.8{\times}10^8$ and $3.4{\times}10^6CFU/mL$, respectively. In the bactericidal effect of the fumigant, the reduction number of $2.8{\times}10^8$ (d value) was 6.46 and 5.19 logCFU/mL, respectively. According to the French standard for the fumigant, the d value for the effective bactericidal fumigant should be over than 5 logCFU/mL. With the results from this study, the fumigation disinfectant containing 20% ortho-phenylphenol has an effective bactericidal activity, then the fumigant can be applied to disinfect food materials and kitchen appliances contaminated with the pathogenic bacteria.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.470-476
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• 2007

To evaluate the vancomycin resistance of Enterococcus spp. (VRE) from Saengsik and Sunsik, Enterococcus were isolated and identified from 25 Saengsik and 35 Sunsik samples, and resistance of Enterococcus to other antibiotics was also assessed. Thirty nine Enterococcus, 16 strains from Saengsik, and 23 strains from Sunsik, were ultimately isolated. The most frequently collected Enterococcus isolates in Saengsik were E. casseliflavus and E. hirae, and were E. casseliflavus and E. faecium in Sunsik. However, E. faecalis was not detected in those foods. Minimum inhibitory concentrations of vancomycin against the isolates were below $4\;{\mu}g/mL$ and no strains evidenced profound levels of resistance. The isolates were found to be susceptible to vancomycin with the exception of eight E. casseliflavus and three E. gallinarum. All Enterococcus isolates proved resistant to streptomycin and chloramphenicol. 23% of the isolates were resistant to penicillin; however, all of the isolates were sensitive to tetracycline. Six and 48%, respectively, of the strains from the Saengsik and Sunsik proved resistant to erythromycin. All of E. mundtii and E. hirae isolates from Saengsik, and 20% of E. gallinarum and E. casseliflavus isolates from Sunsik were found to be ampicillin-resistant. All of E. gallinarum, E. casseliflavus, and E. faecium were rifampin-resistant. The antibiotic resistances of Enterococcus were relatively low, and this low vancomycin resistance was similar to that evidenced by Enterococcus isolates obtained from the other foods. However, there may be a need for some review of the accepted antibiotics criteria for Enterococcus and VRE in ready-to-eat foods.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.25-31
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• 2016

An enterococci selective medium was developed to detect the presence of enterococci for use as a fecal contamination indicator. Among several media which have been known to detect enterococci, the following 9 different kinds of media were selected: Enterococci Confirmatory agar, Azide dextrose agar, Bromocresol-purple azide agar, Esculin bile agar, Citrate azide tween carbonate agar, KF Streptococcus agar, BROLACIN agar, Kanamycin esculin azide agar, and Membrane filter Enterococcus selective agar. Various components from the nine media were mixed to develop a more effective enterococcus selective medium. The newly developed medium named as 'Enterococcus Mixed medium' was more effective than the previous 9 media. Enterococci strains (Enterococcus avium KACC 10788, Enterococcus faecium KACC 11954, Enterococcus saccharolyticus KACC 10783, Enterococcus durans KACC 10787, Enterococcus faecalis KACC 11304, and Enterococcus hirae KACC 10779) and non-enterococci strains (Escherichia coli KACC 10005, Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus KACC 10768, and Bacillus subtilis KACC 10111) were used to test the new medium. As a result, the enterococci strains grew well on the Enterococcus Mixed medium whereas the non-enterococci strains did not grow well on it. Additionally, growth of enterococci with freshwater and seawater samples was observed to be good on the Enterococcus Mixed medium. The result of this study confirmed that the Enterococcus Mixed medium was effective in detecting the target enterococci.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.122-128
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• 2010

From April to December in 2009, microbial investigation is accomplished for 100 frozen foods asked to microbial control team that corresponds with total aerobic viable bacteria, coliform group, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus spp. and antibiotic resistance patterns of Enterococcus spp. isolates are investigated. Average of total erobic viable bacteria numbers is $4.3{\times}10^4CFU/g$. Average of coliform group numbers is $4.3{\times}10^3CFU/g$. Average f Enterococcus spp. numbers is $1.8{\times}10^3CFU/g$. Escherichia coli from 100 frozen foods is not detected and detection ate is 0.0%. 22 Enterococcus spp. are isolated from 100 frozen foods. 12 of 22 Enterococcus spp. strains are identified as E. faecium. 7 of 22 Enterococcus spp. strains are identified as E. faecalis. 2 of 22 Enterococcus spp. trains are identified as E. gallinarum. 1 of 22 Enterococcus spp. strains is identified as E. hirae. Enterococcus spp. solates show a high resistance to erythromycin, rifampin, tetracycline, ciprofloxacin, chlorampenicol, penicillin and susceptibility to vancomycin, ampicillin, gentamicin, strepomycin, linezolid. 15 of 22 Enterococcus spp. strains are multi-resistant and the most frequent multi-resistant pattern is erythromycin-rifampin for 6 Enterococcus spp. strains.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.142-148
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• 2008

To evaluate the antibiotic resistance of Enterococcus from salad and sprout, Enterococcus were isolated and identified from 47 salad samples and 37 sprout samples, and then their antibiotic resistances were analyzed. Ninety five Enterococcus, 41 strains from salad and 54 strains from sprout, were ultimately isolated. The frequent Enterococcus in salad and sprout were E. gallinarum, E. faecalis, E. faecium, E. hirae, and E. avium. Minimum inhibitory concentrations of the isolates for vancomycin were below $4{\mu}g/mL$, which were not high levels of resistance. All Enterococcus proved to be resistant to streptomycin and chloramphenicol. Twenty two percentage of the isolates were resistant to penicillin, however, almost the isolates were sensitive to tetracycline. Eighteen percentage of the isolates were resistant to erythromycin. All E. faecium and E. faecalis were found to be ampicillin-resistant, and seven E. faecalis and five E. faecium were resistant to rifampicin. Overall antibiotic resistances of Enterococcus isolates were relatively low and low resistance to vancomycin was similar to those evidenced by Enterococcus isolated from the other foods. Therefore, there may be no special risk from the antibiotics resistances of Enterococcus and especially vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus from the fresh-cut salads and the sprouts.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Fisheries Technology Conference
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• 2000.05a
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• pp.145-146
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• 2000

The presence of cross-reacting muramidase in Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus ULl2 was shown by using monoclonal antibodies raised against an muramidase-2 of Enterococcus hirae ATCC 9790. The separation of protein by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis followed by Western immunoblot confirmed the presence of one cross-reacting band in Enterococcus hirae with an estimated molecular mass of 80 kDa, L. bulgaricus cultured cells harvested after 4 and 12 h were submitted to different autolysin releasing procedures and the liberated products were allowed to cross-react with muramidase-2 antibodies in order to estimate the efficiency of each treatment. Although the cultured cells harvested after 4 h yielded only a slight immune-reaction in Western immunoblots against these enzyme monoclonal antibodies, a strong signal was observed for the cell walls obtained from the same experimental conditions and treated with Triton X-100 surfactant. The same phenomenon was also observed by light fluorescence microscopy. Immune-labelling followed by optical and electron microscopy have shown that the muramidase-2 of L. bulgaricus ULl2 was essentially localized in the innermost part of the cell wall.(omitted)

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.520-525
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• 2023

This study aimed to detect Enterococcus spp. strain, a fecal contamination indicator, by PCR assay from short neck clams Venerupis philippinarum in Cheonsu Bay area, Chu Island area and Wonsan Island area, the west coast of Korea, from November 2022 to February 2023 of Enterococcus spp. strain was detected in 19 (79.2%) among 24 samples, and its concentration ranged from <18 to 33,000 MPN (most probable number)/100 g. The 269 isolated Enterococcus spp. strains were identified by PCR assay, and Enterococcus spp. distribution in short neck clams were E. faecium (39.8%), E. faecalis (23.0%), E. hirae (21.9%), E. gallinarum (10.4%), E. casseliflavus (1.5%), E. durans (1.5%) and unidentified strains (1.9%). Thus, E. faecium was the most dominant strain followed by E. faecalis. Overall, these results provide novel insight into the necessity for shellfish sanitation in the sea and could help reduce the fecal contamination risk.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.1128-1137
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• 2017

The aim of this study was to explore the accuracy and feasibility of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) in identifying bacteria from environmental sources, as compared with rpoA gene sequencing, and to evaluate the occurrence of bacteria of the genus Enterococcus in wild birds. In addition, a phyloproteomic analysis of certain Enterococcus species with spectral relationships was performed. The enterococci were isolated from 25 species of wild birds in central Europe (Poland). Proteomic (MALDI-TOF MS) and genomic (rpoA gene sequencing) methods were used to identify all the isolates. Using MALDI-TOF MS, all 54 (100%) isolates were identified as Enterococcus spp. Among these, 51 (94.4%) isolates were identified to the species level (log(score) ${\geq}2.0$), and three isolates (5.6%) were identified at a level of probable genus identification (log(score) 1.88-1.927). Phylogenetic analysis based on rpoA sequences confirmed that all enterococci had been correctly identified. Enterococcus faecalis was the most prevalent enterococcal species (50%) and Enterococcus faecium (33.3%) the second most frequent species, followed by Enterococcus hirae (9.3%), Enterococcus durans (3.7%), and Enterococcus casseliflavus (3.7%). The phyloproteomic analysis of the spectral profiles of the isolates showed that MALDI-TOF MS is able to differentiate among similar species of the genus Enterococcus.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.116-124
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• 2012

Identification was performed in March 2008 for the 76 Enterococcus strains isolated from the Han-river, which is used as water supply for Seoul citizens. The antibiotic susceptibility, antibiotic resistant structural analysis, trans-conjugation, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) were also carried out for the isolated strains. Among the isolated strains, 25 strains were E. casseliflavus, 4 strains were E. faecalis and 1 strain was E. hirae. Investigation of antibiotic susceptibility indicated that 15 strains demonstrated tolerance against vancomycin, and that 11 strains of E. faecium and 4 strains of E. casseliflavus were VRE. The vanA gene detection of the VRE strains revealed that 6 E. faecium strains were vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VREF) possessing vanA. Analyses of transposon Tn1546 structure containing vanA demonstrated that Km36 and Km37 belonged to Tn1 type, Km20 and Km38 was Tn2 type, and Km39 and Km40 was Tn3 type. PFGE disclosed that among the 6 VREF strains, Km36 and Km37 exhibited equivalent subtype, while the rest 4 strains showed subtypes different to each other. MLST for the 6 VREF strains disclosed that 3 strains were ST78, while the rest 3 strains were ST18, ST192 and ST230, respectively. All these clonal complexes were derived from CC17 which has been isolated from clinical sources. 4 strains belonged to CC78, while the rest 2 strains were CC18 and CC192, respectively.