LETTER
Urinary Tract Infection with Enterococcus faecalis
George A. Jacoby
1 February 1995 | Volume 122 Issue 3 | Page 238
TO THE EDITOR:
Fraimow and colleagues [1] report the first instance of a vancomycin-dependent organism but not the first example of a clinical isolate that required an antimicrobial agent for growth. In 1955, Finland [2] reviewed reports of clinical isolates, including tubercle bacilli, that needed streptomycin for growth. In one report, the condition of a patient with a streptomycin-dependent strain detected in the urine worsened when therapy with streptomycin was resumed after being discontinued for several days. In the laboratory, bacteria dependent on chloramphenicol [2], erythromycin [3], penicillin [2], rifampin [4], and spectinomycin [5] have been obtained. The discovery of vancomycin-dependent strains should inspire a broader search for bacteria requiring other antibiotics in unexpectedly sterile clinical material.
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Author and Article Information
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Lahey Clinic, Burlington, MA 01805. Graduate Hospital, Philadelphia, PA 19146. Philadelphia Department of Public Health, Philadelphia, PA 19146.
1. Fraimow HS, Jungkind DL, Lander DW, Delso DR, Dean JL. Urinary tract infection with an Enterococcus faecalis isolate that requires vancomycin for growth. Ann Intern Med. 1994; 121:22-6.
2. Finland M. Emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. N Engl J Med. 1955; 253:1019-28.
3. Sparling PF, Blackman E. Mutation to erythromycin dependence in Escherichia coli K-12. J Bacteriol. 1973; 116:74-83.
4. Dabbs ER. New tool for studying interactions of components of ribonucleic acid polymerase: rifampin-dependent mutants. J Bacteriol. 1979; 139:1072-4.
5. Dabbs ER. A spectinomycin dependent mutant of Escherichia coli. Mol Gen Genet. 1977; 151:261-7.
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