Abstract
Enterococcus is a commensal organism found in poultry and the human gastrointestinal tract. Enterococcus has emerged as a major zoonotic and nosocomial pathogen. This study aimed to determine the occurrence of Enterococcus species infections among poultry and human, to determine the antibiotic resistance pattern, virulence profile and phylogenetic background of some Enterococcus spp. isolates from poultry and humans. A total of 480 samples (70 from chickens, 30 from pigeon and 20 from ducks) were collected from (liver, heart, intestine and cloacal swabs). In addition, a total number of 120 samples (urine, pleural fluid, stool, wound and pus) from human were collected. The susceptibility profile of the isolates to nine antibiotics were determined using disk diffusion method. Molecular detection for virulence factors was done for all isolates. Partial sequences of 16rRNA gene was applied to isolates from human and poultry. Results revealed that the prevalence of Enterococcus isolation from poultry flocks was (53.3%) from poultry and from human (61.7%). The most predominant isolated Enterococcus species were E. faecium and E. faecalis. The antibiogram showed sensibility of Enterococcus spp. to vancomycin with multi-drug resistance to many antibiotics. Higher detection rates of Vancomycin genes type A, B, and C were detected among human and poultry isolates. The virulence genes esp (enterococcal surface protein) and cylA (hemolysin) genes were frequent among avian and human isolates. In conclusion, there were many similarities in Enterococcus species distribution, virulence gene profile and antibiotic resistance pattern and identity in 16SrRNA gene partial sequences of isolated Enterococci from poultry and human that supporting the zoonotic risk of Enterococcus.

Key words: Enterococcus, faecium, faecalis, VRE, virulence, sequencing, 16 rRNA