title: [Identification of Enterococcus species from clinical samples and their antimicrobial susceptibility].
abstract: The genus enterococcus has 12 species of which, E faecalis and E faecium are most important in human infections. A progressive resistance to penicillin and ampicillin has been detected in these species. The aim of this work was to identify Enterococcus species isolated in a hospital and to study their antimicrobial susceptibility. We studied 209 Enterococcus species coming from patients admitted to a public hospital. Their susceptibility to penicillin, ampicillin, imipenem, vancomycin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin and streptomycin was determined with the agar dilution technique. Eighty seven percent of species were E faecalis and 7.1% were E fecium, other isolated species were E hirae, E casseliflaws, E avium, E solitarius and E faecalis variant. Thirty eight percent of these species were isolated from the urinary tract, 22% from the skin and 14% from surgical wounds. All E faecalis species were susceptible to penicillin, ampicillin, imipenem and vancomycin; 27.3% were susceptible to tetracycline, 54.7% to chloramphenicol and 80% to ciprofloxacin. Seventy three percent of E faecium species were susceptible to penicillin, 80% to ampicillin and 60% to imipenem. Sixty two percent of E faecalis and 42.4% of E faecium were resistant to streptomycin. It is concluded that the correct identification of Enterococcus species has therapeutic implications.
authors: Departamento de Microbiología, Universidad de Chile, Santiago.
authors: M S
authors: MS
authors: Giglio
authors: M E
authors: ME
authors: Pinto
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Córdova
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Escandar
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Waman
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial / Q000276:immunology*; D016983:Enterococcus / Q000187:drug effects*; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents
vernacular_title: Identificación de especies de Enterococcus en muestras clínicas y susceptibilidad a agentes antimicrobianos.