Enterococcus faecium: from microbiological insights to practical recommendations for infection control and diagnostics

Abstract

Early in its evolution, Enterococcus faecium acquired traits that allowed it to become a successful nosocomial pathogen. E. faecium inherent tenacity to build resistance to antibiotics and environmental stressors that allows the species to thrive in hospital environments. The continual wide use of antibiotics in medicine has been an important driver in the evolution of E. faecium becoming a highly proficient hospital pathogen. For successful prevention and reduction of nosocomial infections with vancomycin resistant E. faecium (VREfm), it is essential to focus on reducing VREfm carriage and spread. The aim of this review is to incorporate microbiological insights of E. faecium into practical infection control recommendations, to reduce the spread of hospital-acquired VREfm (carriage and infections). The spread of VREfm can be controlled by intensified cleaning procedures, antibiotic stewardship, rapid screening of VREfm carriage focused on high-risk populations, and identification of transmission routes through accurate detection and typing methods in outbreak situations. Further, for successful management of E. faecium, continual innovation in the fields of diagnostics, treatment, and eradication is necessary.

Metapopulation ecology links antibiotic resistance, consumption, and patient transfers in a network of hospital wards

“…Consistent with this theoretical interpretation of connectivity, we found that its influence was strongest in the hospital-endemic pathogens P. aeruginosa and E. faecium ( Blanc et al, 2007 ; Wurster et al, 2016 ; Zhou et al, 2020 ). Intriguingly, MRSA incidence was not predicted by connectivity.…”

Insights into the Variation in Bioactivities of Closely Related Streptomyces Strains from Marine Sediments of the Visayan Sea against ESKAPE and Ovarian Cancer

“…A 40% hit rate for activity against S. aureus (6 isolates—DSD004 T , DSD006 T , DSD011 T , DSD015 T , DSD016 T , and DSD037 T ) and A. baumannii (6 isolates–DSD006 T , DSD011 T , DSD037 T , DSD041 T , DSD042 T , and DSD43 T ) ( Table 1 ) were observed. The least hit rate of 13% (2 isolates—DSD006 T and DSD036 T ) was observed against vancomycin-resistant E. faecium , a leading cause of hospital acquired infection [ 79 ]. Only four Streptomyces isolates, i.e., DSD006 T , DSD011 T , DSD041 T , and DSD042 T , were active against the Gram-negative members of ESKAPE pathogens, namely, K. pneumoniae, A. baumannii , P. aeruginosa , and E. cloacae .…”

Spotlight on the Compositional Quality of Probiotic Formulations Marketed Worldwide

“…However, Temmerman et al (2003a) declared than none of E. faecium strains isolated in their study as contaminant was resistant to vancomycin. Due to their marked antibiotic resistance and ability to cause urinary tract and wound infections, endocarditis, and bacteremia, E. faecium and E. faecalis are well known as important nosocomial pathogens ( Madsen et al, 2017 ; Gao et al, 2018 ; Ben Braïek and Smaoui, 2019 ; Zhou et al, 2020 ). Differently, E. hirae is generally considered a zoonotic pathogen and is rarely isolated from clinical samples derived from humans.…”