The study identifies significant differences in bowel carriage of group D streptococci between adults and neonates, which may inform the understanding of their role in conditions like bacterial endocarditis.
Neonatal-adult differences in group D streptococcal carriage may refine endocarditis risk models; leaves open species-specific contributions to pathogenesis.
Sixty faecal samples, 39 from adults and 21 from neonates, were investigated by means of a simple scheme to isolate and identify any group D streptococci present. A number of differences were found between the two groups. Group D streptococci were absent from 43% of the neonates compared with only 13% of the adults; Streptococcus bovis was commoner in the neonates (23.8%) than in the adults (5%), and Streptococcus faecium was not isolated from any of the infant samples although it was common in the adult samples (25%). The viable counts of Strep. faecium were found to be, on average, 100-fold lower than those of Streptococcus faecalis. The methods and results are discussed with reference to the clinical significance of group D streptococci, especially in bacterial endocarditis and carcinoma of the colon.
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Carole Noble (1978) studied this question.
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