Studies on Enterococci

Abstract

Enterococci were obtained from 338 samples (71%) of 464 materials of flies and cockroaches. Of these samples examined, enterococcal strains were isolated at high level (87%) from intestinal contents of cockroaches.The bacterial counts of enterococci in samples tested were at the level from 102 to 107 per sample. Of these, enterococcal counts of the bodies (including the intestinal contents) were much more than those of the legs.According to biological properties, the majority of the isolates were identified as Str. faecium (type BII, reported by Shimazaki et al.). Most of the remainders were classified as Str. faecalis and Str. faecalis var. liquefaciens (type AII, the same reporter) and only a few strains showing the beta-haemolysis were detected. Furthermore, some strains among the isolates could not be identified clearly.