Enterococci with special resistance patterns (mainly vancomycin-resistant enterococci) play an important role in everyday clinical practice. Rising resistance rates to linezolid, daptomycin or tigecycline are also increasingly reported. Therapeutically, linezolid and daptomycin are the most important substances mainly in infections due to vancomycin-resistant enterococci. Several systematic meta-analyses of bloodstream infections showed discrepant results in the comparison of mortality of linezolid and daptomycin-treated bacteraemias. The containment of enterococci with special resistance patterns is currently receiving great attention. The key hygienic issue in all recommendations for dealing with multidrug-resistant enterococci can be summarized very simply: current scientific evidence is often inconsistent and studies that have clearly tested a single intervention for efficacy are lacking. The present work gives an insight into the current epidemiology and therapeutic strategies. Furthermore, the recently published German KRINKO recommendations are presented.
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