Mortality Associated With Enterococcal Bacteremia

Our data support the concept that enterococcal bacteremia provides a marker for life-threatening disease processes but, apart from endocarditis, seldom explains the immediate cause of death. Although over-all mortality among 189 patients who experienced 190 episodes of enterococcal bacteremia was 39 per cent, only 14 deaths were attributed directly to the episode of bacteremia on the basis of definitions used in this study. Upon closer scrutiny, the role of enterococcal infection even in these 14 deaths was not entirely clear except for one fatal instance of endocarditis. We could not correlate outcome with use of specific antimicrobial therapy directed against enterococci.