10.22376/ijpbs.2019.10.1.p1-12 Volume 4 Issue 1 2013 (January - March) lessThan i greaterThan Enterococci lessThan /i greaterThan present a therapeutic challenge because of their resistance to a vast array of antimicrobial drugs and the propensity of lessThan i greaterThan Enterococci lessThan /i greaterThan to acquire resistance. Thousand clinical specimens were collected from two tertiary care hospitals in Kerala. lessThan i greaterThan Enterococci lessThan /i greaterThan were isolated and identified from clinical specimens by conventional methods. Antibiotic resistance and MIC were detected. Vancomycin resistant genes were confirmed by PCR and broth mating was performed to detect resistance gene transfer. Of the isolates lessThan i greaterThan E.faecalis lessThan /i greaterThan was the predominant species followed by lessThan i greaterThan E.faecium lessThan /i greaterThan , lessThan i greaterThan E.gallinarum lessThan /i greaterThan , lessThan i greaterThan E.avium lessThan /i greaterThan , lessThan i greaterThan E.mundtii lessThan /i greaterThan and lessThan i greaterThan E.raffinosus lessThan /i greaterThan .Multidrug resistance was demonstrated by most of the isolates. Among the six vancomycin resistant lessThan i greaterThan E.faecium lessThan /i greaterThan isolates, three were of vanA and three vanB phenotypes. VanB resistant genes were located on plasmid and were transferred to recipients through conjugation. The present study reveals the emergence of transferrable vancomycin resistance from this part of the country. ASHA PETER, SHINI ZACHARIA, RADHAKRISHNAN.E.K AND JYOTHIS MATHEW Enterococci, vancomycin resistant enterococci, antibiotics, conjugation. 356-363