Enterococcus faecium small colony variant endocarditis in an immunocompetent patient

S Hernández Egido; M Siller Ruiz; S Inés Revuelta; I García García; J L Muñoz Bellido

doi:10.1016/j.nmni.2015.11.006

Enterococcus faecium small colony variant endocarditis in an immunocompetent patient

New Microbes New Infect. 2015 Nov 14:9:47-9. doi: 10.1016/j.nmni.2015.11.006. eCollection 2016 Jan.

Authors

S Hernández Egido¹, M Siller Ruiz¹, S Inés Revuelta², I García García³, J L Muñoz Bellido⁴

Affiliations

¹ Servicio de Microbiología, Salamanca, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Salamanca (IBSAL)-CSIC, Salamanca, Spain.
² Unidad de Consulta y Atención Inmediata, Servicio de Medicina Interna-Clínico, Complejo Asistencial Universitario de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
³ Servicio de Microbiología, Salamanca, Spain.
⁴ Servicio de Microbiología, Salamanca, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Salamanca (IBSAL)-CSIC, Salamanca, Spain; Grupo de Investigación Reconocido MICRAPE, Salamanca, Spain; Departamento de Ciencias Biomédicas y del Diagnóstico, Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.

Abstract

Small colony variants (SCV) are slow-growing subpopulations of bacteria usually associated with auxotrophism, causing persistent or recurrent infections. Enterococcus faecalis SCV have been seldom described, and only one case of Enterococcus faecium SCV has been reported, associated with sepsis in a leukaemia patient. Here we report the first case described of bacteraemia and endocarditis by SCV E. faecium in an immunocompetent patient.

Keywords: Endocarditis; Enterococcus; Enterococcus faecium; sepsis; small colony variant.