BRIEF REPORT A newly described vancomycin-resistant ST412 Enterococcus faecium predominant in Greek hospitals A. Damani & D. Klapsa & M. Panopoulou & I. Spiliopoulou & K. Pantelidi & E. Malli & F. Kolonitsiou & S. Grapsa & E. Alepopoulou & F. Frantzidou & E. Vlahaki & C. Koutsia-Carouzou & H. Malamou-Lada & L. Zerva & S. Kartali-Ktenidou & E. D. Anastassiou & A. N. Maniatis & E. Petinaki Received: 29 May 2009 / Accepted: 22 November 2009 / Published online: 17 December 2009 # Springer-Verlag 2009 Abstract A total of 359 vancomycin-resistant enterococci (344 Enterococcus faecium and 15 E. faecalis) collected during 2007 from eight tertiary-care hospitals in Greece were analysed for genotypic characteristics. Four common clones, ST412, ST203, ST16 and ST17, were identified among E. faecium and one clone, ST28, among E. faecalis strains. Enterococcus species have recently emerged as important nosocomial pathogens. Their resistance to several antimicro- bial agents, both intrinsic (low-level resistance to penicillin, cephalosporins and aminoglycosides) and acquired (glycopeptides, high concentrations of aminoglycosides), is of great concern. Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) were first reported in 1988; since then, their presence has increasingly been detected throughout the world [1]. Widely disseminated VRE clones have been reported previously as the source of high-degree vancomycin resistance among nosocomial infections [2]. In Greece, the first clinical isolate of vancomycin-resistant E. faecium (VREF) emerged in 2001 [3]. Nowadays, in several Greek hospitals, the incidence of VRE has reached 50% (more than 90% of the isolates being E. faecium) but, unfortunately, until now, the epidemiological characterisation of these isolates has not been performed. In an effort to control in our clinical settings the dissemination of VRE, the phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of VRE isolates from eight Greek hospitals have been investigated and compared with known international epidemic clones. A total of 359 vancomycin-resistant enterococci, collected during 2007 in eight tertiary-care Greek hospitals, located in different areas of the country (Northern, Central and A. Damani : D. Klapsa : K. Pantelidi : E. Malli : E. Petinaki Department of Molecular Microbiology, Institute of Biomedical Research and Technology, Larissa, Greece M. Panopoulou : S. Grapsa : E. Alepopoulou : S. Kartali-Ktenidou Department of Microbiology, University Hospital of Alexandroupolis, Alexandroupolis, Greece I. Spiliopoulou : F. Kolonitsiou : E. D. Anastassiou Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Patras, Patras, Greece F. Frantzidou Department of Microbiology, AHEPA University Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece E. Vlahaki Department of Microbiology, General Hospital of Volos, Volos, Greece C. Koutsia-Carouzou Department of Microbiology, General Hospital “Asclepeion”, Voula, Athens, Greece H. Malamou-Lada Department of Microbiology, General Hospital “Georgios Genimatas”, Athens, Greece L. Zerva Department of Microbiology, ATTIKON University General Hospital, Athens, Greece A. N. Maniatis : E. Petinaki (*) Department of Microbiology, Medical School, University Hospital of Larissa, Papakyriazi 22, Larissa, Greece e-mail: petinaki@med.uth.gr e-mail: petinaki@hotmail.com Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis (2010) 29:329–331 DOI 10.1007/s10096-009-0847-9