Abstract:

Objective To analyze the carrying condition of virulence gene of Enterococcus isolated from clinical blood and urine samples. Methods Totally，93 isolates of Enterococcus faecalis and 103 isolates of Enterococcus faecium were collected in Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital of Clinical College of Nanjing Medical University from 2017 to 2019. Six virulence genes，including cylA，esp，asa1，hyl，gelE and agg，of Enterococcus were determined by polymerase chain reaction（PCR），and the differences of virulence genes in different isolates and from different sources were compared and analyzed. Results The 93 isolates of Enterococcus faecalis mainly carried asa1（76.3%），gelE（71.0%），cylA（64.5%），esp（60.2%） and agg（22.6%），and no hyl was determined. Enterococcus faecium mainly carried esp（68.9%） and hyl（31.1%），and cylA，asa1，gelE and agg were not determined. For blood samples，the determination rate of gelE was the highest（75.0%）. For urine samples，the determination rate of asa1 was the highest（85.7%）. The virulence genes of cylA and asa1 determined in Enterococcus faecalis isolated from urine samples were higher than those isolated from blood samples（P<0.05），and the virulence gene of esp determined in Enterococcus faecium isolated from urine samples was higher than that isolated from blood samples（P<0.05）. Conclusions Enterococcus faecalis carrys more virulence genes than Enterococcus faecium，and the distribution of virulence genes of Enterococcus is different from different sample sources.

Key words: Enterococcus, Virulence gene, Urinary tract infection, Bloodstream infection