ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the infection status and the drug resistance of enterococci in patients with severe hepatitis to guide future treatment.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>All bacteria from infected patients with severe hepatitis were cultured with BacT/Alert120 automation instrument (Aksu) and identified with Vitek-AMS60 (Biomerieux). Drug sensitivities of the isolated enterococci were tested with 11 antibacterial agents.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among the 112 isolated enterococci, Enterococcus faecalis was the most preponderant bacterium, and the second was E. faecium. Their isolation rates were 79.5% and 14.3%, respectively. 57.1% of all the enterococci were found in the ascetic fluid of patients with severe hepatitis. Fifty-eight (51.8%) isolated enterococci were found to be high level aminoglycoside resistant (HLAR), 19 (17.0%) enterococci were ampicillin-resistant enterococcus (ARE) and 7 (6.3%) were both HLAR and ARE. The susceptive rates of the enterococci to vancomycin and teicoplanin were very high, namely 96.4% and 100%, respectively. No vancomycin or teicoplanin resistant enterococci were found, but 4 enterococci were mildly sensitive to vancomycin.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Enterococcus faecalis is the most prevalent species isolated in severe hepatitis patients infected with enterococcal infection. From our study, vancomycin and teicoplanin are the drugs of first choice to treat those infections.</p>