Epidemiological typing of ST80 vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium: core genome multilocus sequence typing...

Area of Science:

• Microbiology
• Genomics
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE) ST80 strains are a growing concern in healthcare settings.
• Effective epidemiological typing is crucial for controlling VRE dissemination.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate whole-genome sequencing (WGS)-based approaches for VRE ST80 epidemiological typing.
• To compare core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST) and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based typing methods.

Main Methods:

• Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of 41 VRE ST80 isolates from suspected transmission chains.
• Analysis using core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST) and SNP-based typing.
• Inclusion of a reference genome from a predominant ST80 clone.

Main Results:

• Both cgMLST and SNP typing showed comparable discrimination for isolates within suspected transmission chains.
• SNP analysis was suboptimal for typing diverse isolates without an optimal reference genome.
• cgMLST identified significant genetic diversity between outbreak strains and a reference clone.

Conclusions:

• cgMLST and SNP typing are valuable tools for VRE ST80 epidemiological surveillance.
• A combined approach using cgMLST as the primary method and SNPs as a complementary tool is recommended.
• This strategy enhances the accuracy of VRE outbreak investigations.