Isolation and Identification of Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus lactis from Human Clinical Specimens

E. faecalis and E. lactis are opportunistic Gram-positive pathogens associated with soft tissue infections and are characterized by multidrug resistance and virulence potential. The aim of this study was to evaluate antimicrobial resistance patterns and to detect selected virulence genes in E. faecalis and E. lactis isolated from soft tissue infections. Two hundred and ten clinical specimens (biopsies, aspirates, and swabs) were collected and cultured on MacConkey, blood, chocolate, and brain heart infusion agars under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Identification was performed by conventional methods, the VITEK2 system, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and PCR detection of agg, esp, and ace genes. A total of 98 bacterial isolates were collected. VITEK2 identified two isolates as E. faecalis and two isolates as E. lactis, but 16S rRNA sequencing confirmed one strain per species. Genes (agg and esp) were present; ace was absent. All isolates that were confirmed were resistant to the antibiotics tested. Soft tissue infections harbor multidrug-resistant E. faecalis and E. lactis possessing key virulence genes, underscoring their clinical importance and the need for continued surveillance and infection prevention.