Linezolid-resistant enterococci: report of the first isolates in the United Kingdom

Linezolid, the first oxazolidinone antibacterial agent to be developed for clinical use, was licensed in the UK in early 2001. We report the first three examples of resistant enterococci (two isolates of Enterococcus faecium and one Enterococcus faecalis) isolated in the UK, which were obtained from patients who had received linezolid. The linezolid MICs for the resistant isolates were 64 mg/L. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis of the linezolid-susceptible and -resistant isolates from two of the patients, combined with sequence analysis of rRNA, indicated that resistance developed in previously susceptible strains, most probably via a point mutation in the 23S rRNA.