A clinical study of the role of enterococci as sole agents of wound and tissue infection.

Patients who had enterococci isolated from wounds or tissues were identified from laboratory records. The charts of patients with pure cultures of enterococci were reviewed to determine the degree of clinically significant infection. We found that the frequency of infections in patients with pure cultures of enterococci was not significantly different from the frequency of infections in a control series of patients with negative cultures, but that it was significantly different from the frequency of infections in a series of patients with pure cultures of Staphylococcus aureus. Our conclusion that enterococci are not by themselves significant pathogens in wound or tissue infections is supported by a few experimental studies of other authors.