High level of vancomycin resistance in invasive strains of Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium in Italy: initial results from the national AR-ISS antibiotic resistance project

A total of 5.9% of isolates from blood cultures of enterococci in Italy during the last half of 2001 were resistant to three or more antibiotics (of different classes) (1). The frequency of vancomycin resistance and overall multiresistance in invasive strains of Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium are reported in table 1. It is of note that 80.0% of those isolates that were vancomycin resistant were also multiresistant.