Microdiversity of Enterococcus faecalis isolates from infective endocarditis

Infective endocarditis (IE) due to Enterococcus faecalis are severe infections which relapse in almost 10% of cases, despite effective antimicrobial therapy. We recently hypothesized that treatment failure could be linked with the selection of isolates lacking the virulence factor Ebp. Ebp is a protein belonging to microbial surface component recognizing adhesive matrix molecules, and is an important target of the host's immune system. For that reason, deletion of Ebp may be involved in immune evasion. In order to evaluate the frequency Ebp deletions and the importance of microdiversityin IE, we analyzed 5 heart valves from patients with IE due to E. faecalis and compared multiple isolates.