Galapagos’ Wildlife Biodiversity Would be Affected by Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci

Vancomycin is a high priority antibiotic to human health according to World Health Organization, because it is the last option to the treatment in bacterial infections. There are many vancomycin resistant bacteria like enterococci, which is a kind of bacteria that is part of the normal microbiota of mucous surfaces and intestinal tract of domestic animals, wild animals and humans. Enterococci have the presence of different multidrug resistant genes that are essentials to their survival. There are nine different genes of resistance to vancomycin, but the gen Van A and the gen Van B are the most common genes with high prevalence in this kind of bacteria. There are many reports about vancomycin resistance in worldwide bacterial infections in humans and in animals. Also, there are reports about enterococci that were isolated from rectal swabs of finches, marine and terrestrial iguanas from Galapagos' isles, but those hasn't been confirmed if are vancomycin resistant enterococci.