Multi-drug-resistant <i>Enterococcus faecalis</i> among Egyptian patients with urinary tract infection

<p>The prevalence of <i>Enterococcus faecalis</i> (<i>E. faecalis</i>) infections among Egyptians with urinary tract infection (UTI), their antimicrobial susceptibility and mechanisms of resistance are under investigated. In this study, 300 urine samples were collected from UTI patients to identify <i>E. faecalis</i>. Antimicrobial susceptibility to 18 antimicrobial agents was tested. The presence of <i>aac</i>(6)-Ie-aph(2)Ia, <i>erm</i>(B) and <i>mef</i>(A/E) genes was examined by PCR. Fifty-seven (19%) isolates were identified as <i>E. faecalis</i>. All isolates were sensitive to teicoplanin and were completely resistant to nalidixic acid, cefotaxime and cefadroxil. Multi-drug-resistant (MDR) was found to be 100% with 45 different antibiotypes. The <i>aac</i>(6)Ia-aph(2)Ia gene was found in 100 and 90% of the isolates resistant to gentamicin at concentrations of 120 and 10 μg, respectively. <i>erm</i>(B) and <i>mef</i>(A/E) genes were present in 92.5% (37/40) and 2.5% (1/40) of erythromycin-resistant isolates, respectively. We conclude that there is a high prevalence of <i>E. faecalis</i> in UTI cases with a 100% MDR rate indicating a serious problem in treating infections by this organism in Egypt.</p