Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci in Humans and Imported Chickens in Japan

The phenotypes and genotypes of 22 VanA-type vancomycin-resistant enterococci that had been isolated in Japan were examined. The VanA resistance determinant was plasmid mediated in each of the 22 strains. Of the 22 strains, 8 were isolated from different patients and 11 and 3 were obtained from different samples of chickens imported from Thailand and France, respectively. Three of the strains that were isolated from patients and the 11 strains isolated from the Thai chickens showed high-level vancomycin resistance (MICs, 512 to 1,024 μg/ml) and low-level teicoplanin resistance (MICs, 0.5 to 4 μg/ml). Each of these strains had three amino acid substitutions in the N-terminal region of the deduced VanS sequence. L50 was converted to V, E54 was converted to Q, and Q69 was converted to H compared to the vanS gene sequence of Tn1546.