Enterococcus faecium

Clinical Utility

This assay is only available as part of a panel and cannot be ordered individually.

Enterococci faecium is an anaerobic gram-positive coccus found in the normal intestinal flora of humans. E. faecium can colonize many organs of the body including the gastrointestinal tract and the skin, and can also survive for long periods on inanimate objects. This along with its multi-drug resistant characteristics makes it a particularly hard to manage pathogen. Enterococci infections have both an intrinsic and acquired resistance to antibiotics, making them important nosocomial pathogens. The acquisition of vancomycin resistance by enterococci has seriously affected the treatment and infection control of these organisms.