Virulência e resistência antimicrobiana de Enterococcus sp. isolados de amostras de água

Abstract

Enterococcus sp. are Gram-positive cocci bacteria often found in the normal microflora of the gastrointestinal tract of humans and animals; and also in plants, soil and surface water. Although these microorganisms are considered commensals, Enterococcus sp. can be related to a wide variety of human infections. With the rapid growth of cities, often without basic sanitation, surface water serves as the spread of waterborne diseases through the Enterococcus sp. This work presents as objective the isolation and identification of species of Enterococcus of surface water samples collected from three lakes: Jaboti, Lake Biguaçu and Lake Barreiro, all in the Apucarana City – PR. The virulence factors and sensitivity to antibiotics are were also determined. The isolates were tested for their resistance to 12 antibiotics by disk diffusion method; and the genotypic analysis of virulence factors and antimicrobial resistance genes was carried out using the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Forty (40) isolates for the genus Enterococcus were confirmed and species were identified as follows: E. italicus (n= 8); E. casseliflavus/E.flavescens (n= 4); E. gallinarum (n=4); E. seriolicida (n= 3) and E. faecium (n= 2). The resistance rates of the isolates were observed of 57,5%; 55,0%; 50,0%; 47,5% and 35,0% for erythromycin, penicillin, teicoplanin, vancomycin and ampicilin respectively. Genes found among isolates were vanA (37,5%); erm(B) (25,0%); aac (6 ') - aph-le (2') – la (22,5%); tet(L) (20,0%) and tet(M) (2,5%). None of the studied isolates presented vanB gene. Virulence determinants of the isolates were detected at a rate of 17,5 and 2,5% for asa1 and cylA. The genes gelE, agg, ace and cpd were not detected among the isolates. The presence of Enterococcus sp. in water is a public health problem since it can spread virulent and antibiotic resistant bacteria to humans.