[Infectious endocarditis caused by a glycopeptide-resistant enterococus]

Enterococci are an important cause of infective endocarditis. Their resistance to most of the antibiotics involve real therapeutic problems. We report the first clinical isolate of glycopeptide resistant enterococcus from blood culture of patient with a prosthetic valve endocarditis. The strain is an E. faecium with a high level of resistance to vancomycin and teicoplanin (MIC > 256 mg/l), a low level of resistance to gentamycin (MIC = 6 mg/l) and susceptible to ampicillin (MIC = 1.5 mg/l). Therapeutic failure was observed leading to a surgical treatment. Therapy of such infection caused by multiresistant Enterococcus must be based on the study of bactericidal activity of antibiotic associations. In order to control the spread of this emerging resistance, the implementation of control measures is necessary.