Characteristics of clinical and environmental vanM-carrying vancomycin-resistant enterococci isolates from an infected patient

•vanM is an uncommon glycopeptide resistance gene first identified in Enterococcus faecium in Shanghai, China.•vanM was identified in clinical and environmental E. faecium isolates from Hangzhou, China.•The genetic structure surrounding vanM was similar to that of the original vanM-carrying E. faecium isolate.•Active surveillance of vanM-carrying enterococci from the gastrointestinal tract and environment sources may be warranted. vanM, an uncommon glycopeptide resistance gene, was first identified in an Enterococcus faecium isolate (Efm-HS0661) from Shanghai, China, in 2006 and has been predominant in this city since 2011. A vanM-carrying E. faecium was isolated from the bloodstream of a patient in an intensive care unit (ICU) in Hangzhou, China, in 2014. Further surveillance screening of a rectal swab and environmental surfaces of the patient yielded a large number of vanM-positive E. faecium. These isolates (including 1 from the bloodstream, 1 from the rectal swab and 43 representative isolates from environmental samples) were classified into four pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns and two sequence types (ST78 and ST564). PCR amplification and sequence analysis indicated that the genetic structure surrounding the vanM gene of these isolates was similar to that of the original vanM-carrying isolate Efm-HS0661. This study highlights the emergence of infections and environmental contamination caused by vanM-carrying E. faecium in an ICU of another Chinese city outside of Shanghai.