and Mortality among Patients with Bacteremia

The potential virulence factors of enterococci include production of enterococcal surface protein (Esp), ge-latinase, and hemolysin. Gelatinase- and hemolysin-producing strains of Enterococcus faecalis have been shown to be virulent in animal models of enterococcal infections. Esp production has been shown to enhance the persistence of E. faecalis in the urinary bladder. We determined the presence of the esp gene and production of gelatinase and hemolysin in 219 E. faecalis isolates from a larger prospective study of 398 patients with enterococcal bacteremia. Thirty-two percent of isolates carried the esp gene, 64 % produced gelatinase, and 11 % produced hemolysin. There was no significant association between 14-day mortality and any of the markers studied, singly or in combination. Enterococci are increasingly important causes of no-socomial infection. They are intrinsically resistant to or tolerant of many antibiotics and are readily able to acquire resistance to antibiotics, either by mutation or by acquisition of plasmids or transposons containing genetic sequences that confer resistance in other bac-teria [1]. Other virulence factors include the phenotypi