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Enterococci have been recognized as potential human pathogens for more than a century, but only in recent years have these organisms acquired prominence as important causes of nosocomial infections. The ability of enterococci to survive and/or disseminate in the hospital environment and to acquire antibiotic resistance determinants makes the treatment of some enterococcal infections in critically ill patients a difficult challenge. Enterococci were first mentioned in the French literature in 1899; the “entérocoque” was found in the human gastrointestinal tract and was noted to have the potential to produce significant disease. Indeed, the first pathologic description of an enterococcal infection dates to the same year. A clinical isolate from a patient who died as a consequence of endocarditis was initially designated Micrococcus zymogenes, was later named Streptococcus faecalis subspecies zymogenes, and would now be classified as Enterococcus faecalis. The ability of this isolate to cause severe disease in both rabbits and mice illustrated its potential lethality in the appropriate settings.
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Enterococci are gram-positive organisms. In clinical specimens, they are usually observed as single cells, diplococci, or short chains (Fig. 45-1), although long chains are noted with some strains. Enterococci were originally classified as streptococci because organisms of the two genera share many morphologic and phenotypic characteristics, including a generally negative catalase reaction. Only DNA hybridization studies and later 16S rRNA sequencing clearly demonstrated that enterococci should be grouped as a genus distinct from the streptococci. Nonetheless, unlike the majority of streptococci, enterococci hydrolyze esculin in the presence of 40% bile salts and grow at high salt concentrations (e.g., 6.5%) and at high temperatures (46°C). Enterococci are usually reported by the clinical laboratory to be nonhemolytic on the basis of their inability to lyse the ovine or bovine red blood cells (RBCs) commonly used in agar plates; however, some strains of E. faecalis do lyse RBCs from humans, horses, and rabbits. The majority of clinically relevant enterococcal species hydrolyze pyrrolidonyl-β-naphthylamide (PYR); this characteristic is helpful in differentiating enterococci from organisms of the Streptococcus gallolyticus group (formerly known as S. bovis), which includes S. gallolyticus, Streptococcus pasteurianus, and Streptococcus infantarius, and from Leuconostoc species. Although at least 18 species of enterococci have been isolated from human infections, the overwhelming majority of cases are caused by two species, E. faecalis and Enterococcus faecium. Less frequently isolated species include Enterococcus gallinarum, Enterococcus durans, Enterococcus hirae, and Enterococcus avium.
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Enterococci are normal inhabitants of the large bowel of human adults, although they usually make up <1% of the culturable intestinal microflora. In ...