目的：
印度东北部经常食用的发酵食品可以作为传播病原微生物的水库，使治疗方案更加复杂。肠球菌通常是食品污染的原因。本研究涉及对传统加工食品中发现的肠球菌的抗生素耐药性及其共存的毒力决定因素的研究。

方法：
从发酵鱼中分离鉴定为粪肠球菌的38个肠球菌分离株被选择用于筛选致病性状。

结果：
百分之二十三的分离物能够水解明胶酶，百分之三十四的蛋白酶活性。分离物的溶血活性对绵羊血液没有阳性测试。通过PCR研究存在毒力基因（gelE，agg，esp，cpd，efaAfs和cyl）。 gelE，agg和esp分别存在于17,13和4种分离物中。在所有分离物中都发现了cpd和efaAfs，而未检测到cyl。在较高发病率下检测到的不同抗生素的耐药百分比包括卡那霉素（63％），万古霉素和庆大霉素（57.8％），四环素（52.6％）和利福平（50％）。在15种多药和万古霉素抗性菌株中证实了VanA基因型。

结论：
在所研究的发酵鱼产品中普遍存在的肠球菌中的毒力决定因素和抗生素抗性的同时发生对通过食物链传播给人类构成潜在威胁。该研究强调了粪肠球菌作为抗生素抗性和毒力因子及其潜在转移给人类的重要性。调查结果重新确定了该地区传统加工鱼产品中普遍存在的肠球菌食品安全问题。

OBJECTIVE:
Fermented foods frequently consumed in Northeast India can act as reservoir for disseminating pathogenic organisms complicating the treatment option. Enterococci are often responsible for contamination of food products. The present study dealt with investigation on antibiotic resistance in enterococci found in traditionally processed foods and their co-existing virulence determinants.

METHOD:
Thirty-eight enterococci isolates identified as Enterococcus faecalis isolated from fermented fish were selected for screening of the pathogenic traits.

RESULTS:
Twenty three percent of the isolates were able to hydrolyse gelatinase and thirty four percent showed protease activity. Haemolytic activity of the isolates had no positive test on sheep blood. The presence virulence genes (gelE, agg, esp, cpd, efaAfs and cyl) were investigated by PCR. gelE, agg and esp were present in 17, 13 and 4 isolates respectively. cpd and efaAfs were found in all the isolates whereas cyl was not detected. Resistance percentage detected to different antibiotics at higher incidence included kanamycin (63%), vancomycin and gentamycin (57.8%), tetracyclin (52.6%) and rifampicin (50%). VanA genotype was confirmed in 15 multidrug and vancomycin resistant strains.

CONCLUSION:
The simultaneous occurrence of virulence determinants and antibiotic resistance in enterococci prevalent in the studied fermented fish product pose a potential threat of transmission to humans through the food chain. This study highlights the importance of E. faecalis as a reservoir of antibiotic resistance and virulence factors and their potential transfer to humans. The findings reopen the issue of food safety of enterococci prevalent in traditionally processed fish products in the region.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30448521