Enterococci in the smear. Is it worth it to be afraid?

Stamina and stability ... Good qualities. If we are not talking about pathogens. But these are the enterococci, and this does not allow us to relax in the fight against them. Sometimes it is extremely difficult to defeat this opponent. But - perhaps you will find the necessary knowledge in this article.

What do the enterococci look like in the smear? In the analyzes, the chains in which these pathogens are collected are visible. They are detected by some enzymes produced, and also if antibodies against them are detected in the blood.

A separate headache of doctors is that enterococcus "lives" in hospitals and there it becomes multi-resistant to different antibiotics, which makes fighting with it difficult. After all, Enterococcus managed to adapt to almost all types of antibiotics to a greater or lesser extent. New antibiotics (linezolid, for example) can still fight enterococci, but sometimes in medical journals there are news of the resistance of these pathogens to the newest antibiotics. So the struggle continues. It is good that the body itself is able to successfully fight, and these medicines are considered a good doctor as an auxiliary.

Where in the organism are the pathogens? The most common enterococci in the urine. However, the inner shell of the heart can be affected , wounds can be infected, the bacteria settle around the catheter, which was administered chronically to the patient. Sometimes these pathogens penetrate into the cavity, and also multiply in the blood (what is called bacteremia). It happens that the bacteria provoke meningitis, lesions of the pleura space.

Often enterococci simply settle in the digestive tract, without causing clinical manifestations of infection. However, it is necessary to keep this process under control, because most patients who eventually became ill already had enterococci in their intestines before the onset of the disease. Therefore enterococci in a smear from a rectum - an occasion to start to take measures.

Especially dangerous is this infection for those patients who are heavily and permanently ill (especially for those who have undergone long courses of antibiotic treatment) who have undergone surgery for transplanting organs and patients with oncological blood diseases. Enterococci for medical workers are also very dangerous. Those who drink corticosteroids and are fed parenterally are at risk of contracting.

However, if it is not a question of the intestines, but of the cervical canal, then this is not dangerous if a few bacteria are found. Enterococci in the smear treatment suggest a simple if the doctor believes that the patient needs therapy in principle. As a rule, enterococci in the vagina - part of the normal flora, so do not panic and worry.

Enterococci in a smear are dangerous only if this smear was taken from the urethra. It's also bad, if these pathogens are found in the blood, this could mean that they spread throughout the body. Very rarely, but they are still found in cerebrospinal fluid, but this usually happens against the background of meningitis (an infrequent case). Enterococci are also found in pus, taken from soft tissues.

Such infections are treated with new antibiotics (streptogramine, teicoplanin, oritavancin). In general, such a "heavy artillery" can only be used when the presence of enterococci is proven precisely where they are dangerous (the vagina and the cervical canal do not count). Antibiotics of the new generation are powerless against viruses, so they are not prescribed for inflammatory processes, laboratory evidence is required for the presence of enterococci.

If you do not ignore the pain and discomfort in the urinary tract, and immediately go to the doctor, you can avoid such terrible consequences of enterococcal infection, like endocarditis and meningitis. Just do not forget about yourself, your body needs attention.