Read condition-specific symptoms and clinical context for Enterococcus faecium. A normal gut resident that has become one of the harder hospital organisms to treat.
PHAC describes enterococci as facultatively anaerobic, catalase-negative Gram-positive cocci arranged individually, in pairs or in short chains, and as normal inhabitants of the intestinal tract, the female genital tract and, less commonly, the oral cavity. E. faecium accounts for 5 to 10% of isolates from human intestine samples, with E. faecalis the most frequent at 80 to 90%. The same sheet records enterococci causing urinary tract, wound and soft tissue infections, and bacteremia that can lead to endocarditis in previously damaged cardiac valves, accounting for 10% of hospital-acquired infections in the USA and about 16% of nosocomial urinary tract infections. Strains resistant to β-lactams, aminoglycosides and, increasingly, vancomycin have been described.
PHAC records enterococci causing urinary tract infections and being responsible for about 16% of nosocomial urinary tract infections.
Possible symptoms: Pain or burning when passing urine; Frequent urge to urinate; Pain in the lower abdomen or back.
These symptoms describe a urinary tract infection generally; only laboratory testing identifies the organism. Treatment choice matters here because of resistance, and is a clinical decision.
PHAC records enterococci associated with bacteremia which can lead to endocarditis in previously damaged cardiac valves.
The bundled PHAC sheet names the syndromes — bacteremia and endocarditis in previously damaged valves, alongside wound and soft tissue infections — rather than giving a symptom list, and none is invented here. Endocarditis in particular is described as arising on valves already damaged, so an underlying condition is part of the picture rather than the organism acting alone.
Enterococcal bloodstream infection and endocarditis are diagnosed and treated in hospital, with resistance testing guiding therapy. This app does not assess symptoms.
PHAC describes enterococci as normal inhabitants of the intestinal tract, the female genital tract and, less commonly, the oral cavity.
PHAC records E. faecium as accounting for 5 to 10% of enterococcal isolates from human intestine samples, with E. faecalis the most frequent at 80 to 90%. Carrying this organism is the normal state and has no symptoms; none is invented here. Colonisation with a vancomycin-resistant strain is likewise not an illness, although it matters for infection-control decisions in hospitals. A positive screening swab is not a diagnosis.
Screening for vancomycin-resistant enterococci is an infection-control measure rather than a test for illness. Its interpretation belongs with the clinical team.
Source check: 2026-09-20. Educational content; independent scientific review remains pending.