Journal article
Increasing tolerance of hospital Enterococcus faeciumto handwash alcohols
Science Translational Medicine, Vol.10(452)
2018
Abstract
Alcohol-based disinfectants and particularly hand rubs are a key way to control hospital infections worldwide. Such disinfectants restrict transmission of pathogens, such as multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecium. Despite this success, health care infections caused by E. faecium are increasing. We tested alcohol tolerance of 139 hospital isolates of E. faecium obtained between 1997 and 2015 and found that E. faecium isolates after 2010 were 10-fold more tolerant to killing by alcohol than were older isolates. Using a mouse gut colonization model of E. faecium transmission, we showed that alcohol-tolerant E. faecium resisted standard 70% isopropanol surface disinfection, resulting in greater mouse gut colonization compared to alcohol-sensitive E. faecium. We next looked for bacterial genomic signatures of adaptation. Alcohol-tolerant E. faecium accumulated mutations in genes involved in carbohydrate uptake and metabolism. Mutagenesis confirmed the roles of these genes in the tolerance of E. faecium to isopropanol. These findings suggest that bacterial adaptation is complicating infection control recommendations, necessitating additional procedures to prevent E. faecium from spreading in hospital settings.
Details
- Title
- Increasing tolerance of hospital Enterococcus faeciumto handwash alcohols
- Authors/Creators
- S.J. Pidot (Author/Creator) - Peter Doherty InstituteW. Gao (Author/Creator) - Peter Doherty InstituteA.H. Buultjens (Author/Creator) - Peter Doherty InstituteI.R. Monk (Author/Creator) - Peter Doherty InstituteR. Guerillot (Author/Creator) - Peter Doherty InstituteG.P. Carter (Author/Creator) - Peter Doherty InstituteJ.Y.H. Lee (Author/Creator) - Peter Doherty InstituteM.M.C. Lam (Author/Creator) - Peter Doherty InstituteM.L. Grayson (Author/Creator) - The University of MelbourneS.A. Ballard (Author/Creator) - Peter Doherty InstituteA.A. Mahony (Author/Creator) - Austin HealthE.A. Grabsch (Author/Creator) - Austin HealthD. Kotsanas (Author/Creator) - Monash HealthT.M. Korman (Author/Creator) - Monash HealthG.W. Coombs (Author/Creator) - Murdoch UniversityJ.O. Robinson (Author/Creator) - Murdoch UniversityA. Gonçalves da Silva (Author/Creator)T. Seemann (Author/Creator) - The University of MelbourneB.P. Howden (Author/Creator) - Peter Doherty InstituteP.D.R. Johnson (Author/Creator) - Peter Doherty InstituteT.P. Stinear (Author/Creator) - Peter Doherty Institute
- Publication Details
- Science Translational Medicine, Vol.10(452)
- Publisher
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Identifiers
- 991005540367607891
- Copyright
- © 2018 The Authors
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Veterinary and Life Sciences
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Citation topics
- 1 Clinical & Life Sciences
- 1.23 Antibiotics & Antimicrobials
- 1.23.173 MRSA and VRE
- Web Of Science research areas
- Cell Biology
- Medicine, Research & Experimental
- ESI research areas
- Biology & Biochemistry