AbadÃÂa-Patiño Lorena
Antibiotypes of Enterococcus spp., strains from lettuce of different species and different businesses in Cumaná, Sucre state, were evaluated. From 52 lettuces studied, strains of Enterococcus spp., (38%). From a commercial point of view, the lettuces in this study were Batavia, Iceberg, Red Chicory, Escarole and Romana. Scientifically, lettuces belong to two genera, Lactuca and Cichorium. The most popular lettuce variety was Lactuca sativaL. but the most contaminated by enterococci was Lactuca sativa var. capitata (89%). The places where more lettuces were bought were the Municipal Market and a Mobile Stand in the center of the city. Only two sites sold lettuce not contaminated with enterococci. The clonal dissemination of two strains of E. faecalis and one strain of E. faecium was demonstrated by antibiotyping, and these clonal strains were isolated from lettuce bought in the municipal market, which suggests that the source of contamination is the same. The susceptibility profile of the Enterococcus strains showed that there are strains resistant to glycopeptides, fluoroquinolones, ansamycins, macrolides, phenicols, and tetracyclines. Most of the bacteria found in these lettuces showed resistance to rifampicin, and intermediate to high susceptibility to ciprofloxacin. These results demonstrate that the food chain is a pathway for the dissemination of multi-resistant bacteria to the human intestinal microbiota, turning the gastrointestinal tract into a reservoir of bacteria intractable with available antibiotics.