Explore the recorded discovery and history of Enterococcus faecalis, with source links and stated limits.
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.
LPSN records Streptococcus faecalis Andrewes and Horder 1906 as the basonym, on the Approved Lists of 1980; this organism spent most of the twentieth century classified among the streptococci.
LPSN records the current name as Schleifer and Kilpper-Bälz 1984, from their transfer of Streptococcus faecalis and Streptococcus faecium to the revived genus Enterococcus in the International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology, with type strain ATCC 19433 / NCTC 775.
This profile describes a normal human gut resident found in most people. It does not identify a first human case, and colonization is not infection.
Source check: 2026-09-19. Educational content; independent scientific review remains pending.