High frequency of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium isolates with VanB phenotype and vanA genotype in Korean hospitals

A total of 59 vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VREF) clinical isolates were collected from 8 Korean hospitals for 2 months in 2004. They were investigated by genotyping for glycopeptide resistance, multilocus sequence typing (MLST), esp repeat profiling, and structural analysis of Tn1546-like element. Nine of 59 VREF isolates (15.3%) from 5 hospitals in Korea showed VanB phenotype, but they contained vanA gene. MLST and esp repeat profiling indicated that E. faecium isolates with VanB phenotype and vanA genotype occurred from independent genetic background except 3 isolates from 1 hospital. Structural analysis of Tn1546 also showed that these isolates were not clonally related. Data showed a relatively high frequency of VREF isolates with incongruence between phenotype and genotype for glycopeptide resistance in Korean hospitals.