Low Level of Resistance in Enterococci Isolated in Four Hospitals, Marseille, France.

Enterococci are gram-positive cocci responsible for various infections worldwide, and their prevalence of antibiotic resistance greatly varies worldwide. This study investigates the prevalence of resistance to antibiotics in enterococci from patients admitted in the four university hospitals of Marseille between January 2013 and September 2014. Two thousand nine hundred seventy-six patients-bacteria couples were identified (2,507 Enterococcus faecalis and 469 Enterococcus faecium) in the four university hospitals of Marseille. 1.3%, 8.9%, 1.4%, and 0% of E. faecalis strains were resistant to amoxicillin, gentamicin, teicoplanin, and vancomycin, respectively, and 83.9%, 49.2%, 1.3%, and 0.2% of E. faecium strains were resistant to amoxicillin, gentamicin, teicoplanin, and vancomycin, respectively. Resistance to aminoglycosides and vancomycin in strains isolated from blood cultures was significantly lower than that of most European countries included in the 2012 European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network report. Our low percentage of antibiotic resistance in enterococci is likely due to a low level of E. faecium infections, underlining the need to implement surveillance systems, especially to monitor the E. faecalis/E. faecium ratio evolution in blood cultures and others.