Incidence of virulence factors and antibiotic resistance among enterococciisolated from food

The incidence of virulence factors among 48 Enterococcus faecium and 47 Ent erococcus faecalis strains from foods and their antibiotic susceptibility w ere investigated. No strain was resistant to all antibiotics, and for some strains, multiple resistances were observed. Of E. faecium strains, 10.4% w ere positive for one or more virulence determinants, compared to 78.7% of E . faecalis strains. Strains exhibiting virulence traits were not necessaril y positive for all traits; thus, the incidence of virulence factors may be considered to be strain specific.