Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) poses a formidable challenge to public health due to its inherent resistance to multiple antibiotics coupled with the ability to transfer genetic determinants to dangerous pathogens like Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence of vancomycin resistance in enterococci among clinical isolates at a tertiary care military hospital in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia and to detect van genes using multiplex-PCR. Overall, 246 isolates of enterococci were collected from various clinical specimens. The isolates were identified, and antimicrobial susceptibility testing was done using the Vitek 2 system. Multiplex PCR was performed on the VRE isolates, thus identified to determine the van genes harbored. A total of 15 VRE were identified, of which 14 (93.3%) were Enterococcus faecium, and 1(6.7%) was Enterococcus casseliflavus with intrinsic vanC resistance. Of the 14 vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium, 8 (57.1%) harbored vanB genes, while 6 (42.8%) harbored vanA genes. All the VRE were susceptible to linezolid and tigecycline. Our study detected a low prevalence (6.1%) of VRE among clinical isolates of enterococci and that the vanB gene predominates in such strains. Susceptibility profiles indicated that linezolid and tigecycline are still effective against these multidrug-resistant pathogens. Pus specimens yielded the highest percentage (53.3%) of isolates from which VRE was obtained, and this finding is novel among studies done in Saudi Arabia.

耐万古霉素的肠球菌（VRE）由于对多种抗生素具有固有的抗性以及将遗传决定簇转移到危险病原体如耐甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌（MRSA）的能力，对公共卫生提出了严峻的挑战。这项研究的目的是调查沙特阿拉伯东部地区一家三级军事医院的临床分离株中肠球菌中万古霉素耐药的发生率，并使用多重PCR检测van基因。总体而言，从各种临床标本中收集了246株肠球菌分离株。鉴定出分离物，并使用Vitek 2系统进行了抗生素敏感性测试。对VRE分离株进行多重PCR，从而确定携带了van基因。总共鉴定出15个VRE，其中14个（93.3％）为粪便肠球菌，而1个（6.7％）为具有内在vanC抵抗力的Casseliflavus肠球菌。在14个耐万古霉素的粪肠球菌中，有8个（57.1％）带有vanB基因，而6个（42.8％）带有vanA基因。所有的VRE均易受利奈唑胺和替加环素的影响。我们的研究在肠球菌临床分离株中发现VRE的患病率较低（6.1％），vanB基因在这类菌株中占主导地位。药敏曲线表明，利奈唑胺和替加环素仍对这些耐多药病原体有效。脓液标本中获得VRE的分离株比例最高（53.3％），这一发现在沙特阿拉伯进行的研究中是新颖的。