Study of Drug Resistance in Clinical Isolates of Enterococci with Special Reference to High Level Aminoglycoside Resistance, β Lactamase Production and Lateral Transfer of Drug Resistance

One hundred forty-seven isolates of enterococci from hospitalized patients comprising of E. faecalis (83) and E. faecium (64) were included in our study. The isolates were tested for high-level aminoglycoside resistance specifically against streptomycin and gentamicin. Minimal inhibitory concentrations for these antibiotics were determined for isolates. Our results show that resistance to gentamicin is more common than to streptomycin and that these resistance traits may have capacity to laterally move to other organisms.