Research Article A Genomic Snapshot of Antibiotic-ResistantEnterococcus faecalis within Public Hospital Environments in South Africa Christiana O. Shobo, 1,2,3 Daniel G. Amoako , 1,3 Mushal Allam , 4,5 Arshad Ismail , 5,6 Sabiha Y. Essack , 1 and Linda A. Bester 3,6 1 Antimicrobial Research Unit, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu•Natal, Durban 4000, South Africa 2 School of Laboratory Medicine and Medical Science, Department of Medical Microbiology, University of KwaZulu•Natal, Durban 4000, South Africa 3 Biomedical Resource Unit, School of Laboratory Medicine and Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu•Natal, Durban 4000, South Africa 4 Department of Genetics and Genomics, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab mirates University, Al Ain 15551, UA 5 Sequencing Core Facility, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg 2131, South Africa 6 Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, ngineering and Agriculture, University of Venda, Tohoyandou 0950, South Africa Corresponence shoul be aresse to Daniel G. Amoako; amoakog@gmail.com an Lina A. Bester; besterl@ukzn.ac.za Received 17 January 2023; Revised 31 May 2023; Accepted 5 June 2023; Published 12 June 2023 Acaemic Eitor: Omar Enzo Santangelo Copyright © 2023 Christiana O. Shobo et al. Tis is an open access article istribute uner the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricte use, istribution, an reprouction in any meium, provie the original work is properly cite. Enterococci are among the most common opportunistic hospital pathogens. Tis stuy use whole•genome sequencing (WGS) an bioinformatics to etermine the antibiotic resistome, mobile genetic elements, clone an phylogenetic relationship of nterococcus faecalis isolate from hospital environments in South Africa. Tis stuy was carrie out from September to November 2017. Isolates were recovere from 11 frequently touche sites by patients an healthcare workers in iferent wars at 4 levels of healthcare (A, B, C, an D) in Durban, South Africa. Out of the 245 ientife .faecalis isolates, 38 isolates unerwent whole•genome sequencing (WGS) on the Illumina MiSeq platform, following microbial ientifcation an antibiotic susceptibility tests. Te tet(M) (31/38, 82%) an erm(C) (16/38, 42%) genes were the most common antibiotic•resistant genes foun in isolates originating from iferent hospital environments which corroborate with their antibiotic resistance phenotypes. Te isolates harboure mobile genetic elements consisting of plasmis (n = 11) an prophages (n = 14) that were mostly clone•specifc. Of note, a large number of insertion sequence (IS) families were foun on the IS3 (55%), IS5 (42%), IS1595 (40%), an Tn3 transposons the most preominant. Microbial typing using WGS ata reveale 15 clones with 6 major sequence types (ST) belonging to ST16 (n = 7), ST40 (n = 6), ST21 (n =5), ST126 (n = 3), ST23 (n = 3), an ST386 (n = 3). Phylogenomic analysis showe that the major clones were mostly conserve within specifc hospital environments. However, further metaata insights reveale the complex intraclonal sprea of these . faecalis major clones between the sampling sites within each specifc hospital setting. Te results of these genomic analyses will ofer insights into antibiotic• resistant. faecalis in hospital environments relevant to the esign of optimal infection prevention strategies in hospital settings. 1. Introduction Te surveillance of hospital environments can be a useful tool to better unerstan the opportunistic microbial communi• ties within the hospital (Comar et al., 2019), to ientify the source of an outbreak [1], an to evaluate the efcacy of environmental isinfection or other infection prevention an control measures [2]. Inaequate control practices have playe a signifcant role in the issemination, persistence, an intra an interhospital sprea of rug•resistant organisms. Hindawi Global Health, Epidemiology and Genomics Volume 2023, Article ID 6639983, 11 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/6639983