The objectives of this investigation were to study the respiratory tract colonization and transmission of enterococci between 20 patients treated with mechanical ventilation at an intensive care unit (ICU), to compare genotyping with phenotyping, and to determine the antibiotic susceptibilities of the isolated enterococci. Samples were collected from the oropharynx, stomach, subglottic space, a...

Nosocomial infections with enterococci are an increasing problem in modern medical practice due to the development of resistance to a wide range of antibiotics, including the glycopeptides vancomycin and teicoplanin. An increasing number of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) have been cultured from clinical specimens -- especially from patients undergoing immunosuppressive therapy -- and ba...

Enterococcus faecalis is a commensal bacterium residing in the gastrointestinal tract of mammals, but in certain situations it is also an opportunistic pathogen which can cause serious disease. Macrophages have been shown to play a critical role in controlling infections by commensal enterococci and also have an important role in mediating chromosomal instability and promoting colon cancer duri...

Biofilm production, gel and esp gene carriage was enumerated among forty six vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) and vancomycin susceptible enterococci (VSE) beach isolates. A higher proportion (61.54%) of biofilm producers was observed among beach sand as compared to beach water enterococci isolates (30%) indicating that enterococci within the sand column may be more dependent on biofilm pr...

Same-day microbial water quality assessments are not possible with standard methods, which increases the possibility of public exposure to fecal pathogens. This study examined the efficacy of high-volume hollow fibre ultrafiltration coupled to biosensor detection for enterococci in marine waters to allow same-day public notification of poor water quality. Fifty-six 1001 ultrafiltered samples an...

Vancomycin-resistant enterococci have emerged as major nosocomial pathogens worldwide. While antimicrobial pressure promotes nosocomial colonization with these enterococci, prolonged exposure to vancomycin may foster the transition from vancomycin resistance to vancomycin dependence. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of a vancomycin-dependentEnterococcus faeciumisolate showing partial t...

We examined cloacal samples from poultry raised on nonintensive production farms in Brazil for the presence of vancomycin-resistant enterococci. No VanA- or VanB-containing enterococci were identified in a total of 200 cloacal swabs. The most prevalent species were Enterococcus gallinarum (vanC1; 13.0%) and E. casseliflavus (vanC2/3; 5.5%).

Four strains of yellow-pigmented enterococci that resembled the species Enterococcus casseliflavus were isolated from patients who had undergone surgical treatment. They were substantially homologous in terms of biochemical properties, antibiotic susceptibilities, and plasmid DNA profiles. Yellow-pigmented enterococci could be another potentially important cause of nosocomial infection in surgi...