Genomic analysis of vancomycin-resistant Enterococci isolated from an outbreak of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium ST80 in Hiroshima, Japan

Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) infections are on the rise worldwide. In particular, numerous cases of nosocomial infections caused by clonal complex 17 (CC17), a hospital-associated lineage of Enterococcus faecium, have been reported in Europe and other countries. An outbreak of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium ST80, which belongs to CC17, occurred in Hiroshima, Japan, between 2020 and 2021. We analyzed all VRE strains isolated in Hiroshima during the outbreak using whole-genome sequencing.