Investigation of some changes and clonal relationship in enterococci isolates due to relocation of a hospital Authors Hanifi Korkoca Department of Medical Microbiology, Nigde Omer Halisdemir University, Nigde, Turkey https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3306-8824 Gulsen Hazirolan Department of Medical Microbiology, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4546-9729 Cemal Cicek Medical Microbiology Laboratory, Aksaray University Training and Research Hospital, Aksaray, Turkey https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8458-8504 Sumeyra Savas Department of Medical Microbiology, Bandirma Onyedi Eylul University, Bandirma, Turkey https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5057-9178 Omer Akgul Department of Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Van Yuzuncu Yil University, Van, Turkey https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8757-2970 Elif Seren Tanriverdi Department of Medical Microbiology, Inonu University, Malatya, Turkey https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0449-0356 DOI: https://doi.org/10.47391/JPMA.8688 Keywords: Enterococcus, Antimicrobial drug resistance, Transmission, Hospital moving Abstract Objective: To investigate the isolation rates, antimicrobial resistance rates, minimum inhibitory concentration values of antimicrobial agents, and clonal relationships of Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium due to the relocation of a hospital to a newly constructed building. Method: The comparative, prospective study was conducted at adult general intensive care units of the Mus State Hospital, Mus, Turkey, in two phases; before the relocation from January 25 to December 1, 2014, and after the relocation from February 10 to May 24, 2015. Rectal swab samples were collected 72 hours post-hospitalisation. Identification of Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium isolates was determined by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, and antimicrobial resistance with minimum inhibitory concentration values was detected with Vitek 2 system. The clonal relatedness among the strains was investigated by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Data was analysed using SPSS 23. Results: Of the 69 patients, 37(53.62%) related to pre-relocation phase; 20(54.1%) females and 17(45.9%) males with mean age 62.81±21.71 years. There were 32(46.37%) patients in the post-relocation phase; 13(40.6%) females and 19(59.4%) males with mean age 62.69±21.35 years (p>0.05). Of the 84 enterococci strains isolated, 51(60.7%) were Enterococcus faecium; 28(55%) before relocation and 23(45%) after relocation (p=0.77). The remaining 33(39.3%) isolates were Enterococcus faecalis; 16(48.5%) before relocation and 17(51.5%) after relocation (p=0.73). Multiple strains were located in 7(18.9%) patients before relocation and in 7(21.9%) after relocation. In 1(3.1%) patient after relocation, 2(8.7%) Enterococcus faecium isolates with different resistance and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns were detected. There were no significant differences between the isolation and antibiotic resistance rates before and after relocation (p>0.05), and a clonal relation between the isolates was not detected (p>0.05). Decreased minimum inhibitory concentration values were noted for some antibiotics (p<0.05). Conclusion: Clonal relationship between the isolates and change in the rates of isolation and antimicrobial resistance of Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium was detected due to relocation. Minimum inhibitory concentration values could be used to reveal relocation-related changes in isolates obtained from patients hospitalised in intensive care units. Key Words: Enterococcus, Antimicrobial drug resistance, Transmission, Hospital moving. Downloads Full Text Article Published 2024-02-11 How to Cite Korkoca, H., Hazirolan, G., Cicek, C., Savas, S., Akgul, O., & Tanriverdi, E. S. (2024). Investigation of some changes and clonal relationship in enterococci isolates due to relocation of a hospital. Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, 74(3), 469–475. https://doi.org/10.47391/JPMA.8688 More Citation Formats ACM ACS APA ABNT Chicago Harvard IEEE MLA Turabian Vancouver Download Citation Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS) BibTeX Issue Vol. 74 No. 3 (2024): MARCH Section RESEARCH ARTICLE License Copyright (c) 2020 Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.