Macrolide Resistance Genes and Virulence Factors of Common Viridans Streptococci Species Colonizing Oral Cavities of Patients in Jordan
The viridans group streptococci (VGS) are the most common pathogens isolated from human dental plaque. They arecapable of causing several infections as well as invasivediseases; dental caries, purulent infections of oral and otherbody sites such as blood sepsis and infectiveendocarditis,despite the fact that they are generally considered to be of lowpathogenic potential. In particular, VGS are a frequentcause of native valve endocarditis in immunocompetentindividuals and endocarditis or sepsis in patients withneutropenia. It is well known that streptococcalendocarditis isa life- threatening disease that requires a long period ofeffective treatment.Recently, VGS have attracted attention due to their abilityto act as reservoirs for antibiotic resistance genes and totransfer their resistance factors to more pathogenic organismslike Streptococcus pneumoniae and Streptococcus pyogenes[2,6]. In thepast, VGS werenearlyuniformly susceptible toβ-lactamantimicrobialagents,aminoglyco...