[Prevalence of virulece-associated genes of Enterococcus faecalis clinical strains isolated from patients and volunteers].

Enterococcus faecalis is an important cause of serious hospitals infections. Several E. faecalis putative virulence determinants have been identified. The aim of our study was to determine the prevalence of virulence factors among 180 strains of E. faecalis isolated from humans from different clinical sources in Poland. Tested strains were investigated for the presence of cylA, cylB, cylM, gelE, asal, esp, efaA and ace by using PCR method. Among all strains ace and efaA were most often detected. However, in opposite to strains obtained from faeces of volunteers, most of clinical strains carried esp (64,4% vs. 28,9%) and cylA (44,4% vs. 20%), cylB (41,5% vs. 20%), cylM (45,2% vs. 20%), respectively. Twenty different virulotype were represented by tested strains. Presence of all tested virulence determinants were the most frequently observed among clinical strains. There was no significant association between virulence factors and clinical source of isolation.