Identification of Enterococcus.faecalis and E.faecium among Enterococci isolated from clinical samples in a teaching hospital Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences, Mandya

Background: Enterococci are common commensal of gastrointestinal tract of human beings. They stand as one of the major causative agent in Nosocomial infections. Enterococcus has gained clinical importance due to their intrinsic and multidrug resistance. Speciation of Enterococci is important as faecalis being sensitive to vancomycin whereas faecium remains to be resistant, so isolating and treating Enterococcus has become an important task. Objective: 1). To determine the species of Enterococci. 2). To determine the antibiogram of Enterococci. Materials and Methods: A Prospective study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in MIMS, Mandya. Standard protocols were followed for isolating & speciation of Enterococcus. As per CLSI guidelines antibiotic susceptibility testing was done. Results: Out of 42 Enterococcal isolates majority were isolated from urine (59.52%) followed by pus (26.19%), blood (9.52%) and sterile body fluids (4.77%). Enterococcus faecalis were (88.1%) and Enterococcus faecium were (11.9%). Among gender distribution, majority (54.77%) were females and (45.23%) were males. All the isolates were susceptible to Linezolid. Maximum resistance was seen against Penicillin and Tetracycline. Conclusion: The appropriate infection control measures, use of antibiotics prescribed based on sensitivity obtained and avoid the empiric use of antimicrobials by clinicians can prevent the burden of drug resistance in Enterococcus. Keywords: Nosocomial infection, Antibiogram, CLSI-The Clinical and Laboratory, Standards Institute.