A normal gut resident found in most people, and an opportunist in urine, wounds and the bloodstream. Explore its illustrative 3D model, human context, and sources.
PHAC describes enterococci as normal inhabitants of the intestinal tract, the female genital tract and, less commonly, the oral cavity, and records E. faecalis as the species most frequently isolated from human intestine samples at 80 to 90%. CDC adds that enterococci are normally found in human intestines, the female genital tract and the environment. The same organism can cause urinary tract, wound and soft-tissue infections and bacteraemia that may lead to endocarditis on previously damaged heart valves. Strains resistant to beta-lactams, aminoglycosides and, increasingly, vancomycin have been described.
CDC states plainly that people can carry vancomycin-resistant enterococci without being infected, which it calls colonization, and that colonization does not require antibiotics. Infection risk concentrates in people on prolonged antibiotics, after surgery, with indwelling devices or with compromised immunity, and damaged heart valves are the setting where bacteraemia can lead to endocarditis.
Original schematic 3D phenotype. PHAC describes Gram-positive cocci arranged individually, in pairs or in short chains, catalase-negative and facultatively anaerobic, with an optimal growth temperature of 35 degrees Celsius; the curated BacDive record for type strain DSM 20478 gives coccus-shaped, Gram-positive cells and lists both microaerophile and facultative anaerobe depending on the reference. Pairs and short chains should read differently from the long chains of S. pyogenes and the grape-like clusters of the staphylococci. The cited sources describe no capsule, flagella or endospore. Colours, dimensions, layer thicknesses and displayed arrangements are diagram choices, not a measured individual cell. Independent scientific review remains pending.
Source check: 2026-09-19. Educational content; independent scientific review remains pending.