The Enterococci: With Special Reference to Their Association with Human Disease

Evans, Alice C.; Chinn, Alice L.

doi:10.1128/jb.54.4.495-512.1947

Cited by 44 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Enterococci are a frequent cause of a wide variety of infections in humans (54,66,167,186). These organisms most commonly infect the urinary tract (59,65,72,92,99,144,165), bloodstream (22,65,90,93,152,154,189,194,227), endocardium (62), abdomen (9,32,52,83,90,152,204), biliary tract (134,152), burn wounds (130,152), and indwelling foreign devices (such as intravascular catheters [90,152,188]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virulence of enterococci

1994

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Enterococci are commensal organisms well suited to survival in intestinal and vaginal tracts and the oral cavity. However, as for most bacteria described as causing human disease, enterococci also possess properties that can be ascribed roles in pathogenesis. The natural ability of enterococci to readily acquire, accumulate, and share extrachromosomal elements encoding virulence traits or antibiotic resistance genes lends advantages to their survival under unusual environmental stresses and in part explains their increasing importance as nosocomial pathogens. This review discusses the current understanding of enterococcal virulence relating to (i) adherence to host tissues, (ii) invasion and abscess formation, (iii) factors potentially relevant to modulation of host inflammatory responses, and (iv) potentially toxic secreted products. Aggregation substance, surface carbohydrates, or fibronectin-binding moieties may facilitate adherence to host tissues. Enterococcus faecalis appears to have the capacity to translocate across intact intestinal mucosa in models of antibiotic-induced superinfection. Extracellular toxins such as cytolysin can induce tissue damage as shown in an endophthalmitis model, increase mortality in combination with aggregation substance in an endocarditis model, and cause systemic toxicity in a murine peritonitis model. Finally, lipoteichoic acid, superoxide production, or pheromones and corresponding peptide inhibitors each may modulate local inflammatory reactions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virulence of enterococci

1994

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“…Enterococci are a frequent cause of a wide variety of infections in humans (54,66,167,186). These organisms most commonly infect the urinary tract (59,65,72,92,99,144,165), bloodstream (22,65,90,93,152,154,189,194,227), endocardium (62), abdomen (9, 32,52,83,90,152,204), biliary tract (134,152), burn wounds (130,152), and indwelling foreign devices (such as intravascular catheters [90,152,188]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virulence of enterococci.

Jett¹,

Huycke²,

Gilmore³

1994

Clinical Microbiology Reviews

138

170

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fourth leading cause of hospital-acquired infection and the third leading cause of bacteremia in the United States (65). Case/fatality ratios for enterococcal bacteremia range from 12 to 68%, with death due to enterococcal sepsis in 4 to 50% of these cases (22, 32, 90, 93, 130, 140, 152, 154, 189, 204, 228, 244). In one large study of bloodstream infections, enterococci were the only gram-positive pathogens independently associated with a high risk of death (227). Similarly, in a retrospective cohort study, the mortality rate attributable to enterococcal bacteremia was 31%, with a risk ratio of 4.75 compared with matched controls (140). Enterococci are normal human commensals adapted to the nutrient-enriched, oxygen-depleted, ecologically complex environments of the oral cavity, gastrointestinal tract, and vaginal vault. As the predominant gram-positive coccus in stool, with concentrations ranging from 105 to 107 CFU/g of feces,

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“…Enterococci have emerged as leading causes of nosocomial infection, including urinary tract infections, wound infections, and bacteremia (10,12,25,33,37,39,41,44). Among these and other types of enterococcal infection, approximately 80% are associated with Enterococcus faecalis (21) and the majority are nosocomial (34).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of Aerobically and Anaerobically Induced Genes in Enterococcus faecalis by Random Arbitrarily Primed PCR

Shepard

Gilmore

1999

Appl Environ Microbiol

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Enterococci have emerged among the leading causes of nosocomial infection. With the goal of analyzing enterococcal genes differentially expressed in environments related to commensal or environmental colonization and infection sites, we adapted and optimized a method more commonly used in the study of eukaryotic gene expression, random arbitrarily primed PCR (RAP-PCR). The RAP-PCR method was systematically optimized, allowing the technique to be used in a highly reproducible manner with gram-positive bacterial RNA. In the present study, aerobiosis was chosen as a variable for the induction of changes in gene expression by Enterococcus faecalis. Aerobically and anaerobically induced genes were detected and identified to the sequence level, and differential gene expression was confirmed by quantitative, specifically primed RT-PCR. Differentially expressed genes included several sharing identity with those of other organisms related to oxygen metabolism, as well as hypothetical genes lacking identity to known genes.

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The Enterococci: With Special Reference to Their Association with Human Disease

Cited by 44 publications

References 49 publications

Virulence of enterococci

Virulence of enterococci

Virulence of enterococci.

Identification of Aerobically and Anaerobically Induced Genes in Enterococcus faecalis by Random Arbitrarily Primed PCR

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