Explore the recorded discovery and history of Enterococcus faecium, with source links and stated limits.
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.
LPSN records the basonym Streptococcus faecium Orla-Jensen 1919, carried onto the 1980 Approved Lists of Bacterial Names. The epithet comes from the Latin for dregs or feces, recording where the organism was found rather than any disease it causes; LPSN notes the form was incorrectly constructed and should have been faecum.
LPSN records Enterococcus faecium (Orla-Jensen 1919) Schleifer and Kilpper-Bälz 1984, separating the enterococci from the streptococci. Type strain ATCC 19434 / DSM 20477 / NCTC 7171. The change reflects genetic evidence rather than any change in the organism or its role in people.
This profile describes a normal inhabitant of the human intestinal tract that occasionally causes opportunistic infection. There is no first human case to identify, and no single infection is attributed to the species here.
Source check: 2026-09-20. Educational content; independent scientific review remains pending.