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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2004, p. 6005-6011, Vol. 70, No. 10
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.10.6005-6011.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Multiple-Antibiotic Resistance of Enterococcus spp. Isolated from Commercial Poultry Production Environments

Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics,¹ Department of Biological Resources Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park,³ Center for Veterinary Medicine, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Laurel, Maryland²

Received 12 March 2004/ Accepted 14 June 2004

The potential impact of food animals in the production environment on the bacterial population as a result of antimicrobial drug use for growth enhancement continues to be a cause for concern. Enterococci from 82 farms within a poultry production region on the eastern seaboard were isolated to establish a baseline of susceptibility profiles for a number of antimicrobials used in production as well as clinical environments. Of the 541 isolates recovered, Enterococcus faecalis (53%) and E. faecium (31%) were the predominant species, while multiresistant antimicrobial phenotypes were observed among all species. The prevalence of resistance among isolates of E. faecalis was comparatively higher among lincosamide, macrolide, and tetracycline antimicrobials, while isolates of E. faecium were observed to be more frequently resistant to fluoroquinolones and penicillins. Notably, 63% of the E. faecium isolates were resistant to the streptogramin quinupristin-dalfopristin, while high-level gentamicin resistance was observed only among the E. faecalis population, of which 7% of the isolates were resistant. The primary observations are that enterococci can be frequently isolated from the poultry production environment and can be multiresistant to antimicrobials used in human medicine. The high frequency with which resistant enterococci are isolated from this environment suggests that these organisms might be useful as sentinels to monitor the development of resistance resulting from the usage of antimicrobial agents in animal production.

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