Lab Med Online.  2013 Apr;3(2):115-118.

Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus avium Isolated from the Wound of a Patient with Diabetes Mellitus

• Ko YJ
• Shim HS
• Moon HW
• Hur M
• Yun YM

Abstract

Enterococcus avium, very commonly found in birds, is rarely reported as a human pathogen. Although several studies have focused on cases of infection with E. avium, little is known about the clinical features of E. avium infection and the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of E. avium. We isolated vanA-producing vancomycin-resistant E. avium from specimen obtained from the wound of a patient with diabetes mellitus. Vancomycin-resistant E. avium is rarely observed among the vancomycin-resistant enterococci colonizing the intestine, and there are very few reports of vancomycin-resistant E. avium isolated from clinical specimens. Here we confirmed that the clinical isolate was E. avium on the basis of phenotypic characterization and the results of 16S rRNA sequence analysis.

Keyword

Enterococcus avium; Vancomycin resistance; Wound infection

MeSH Terms

Birds
Colon
Diabetes Mellitus
Enterococcus
Humans
Intestines
Sequence Analysis
Vancomycin Resistance
Wound Infection

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Grayish, medium-sized colonies of Enterococcus avium on blood agar plate showing alpha hemolysis.

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