Some CFS patients are very low in Enterococcus, my next post will look at the lab results on a CFS patient that shared his results with me.

“Species from the genus Enterococcus have been used as probiotic for humans or animals, although this genus is not considered “generally recognized as safe” .[2001]..

• “Furthermore, E. faecium has experimentally been shown to have a high colonization potential, especially if administered in connection with treatment with antimicrobial agents [15].”

“Enterococcus strains have been used as supplement for the food and feed such as poultry and swine to replace the use of sub-lethal antibiotics in the feeds. Many studies have been conducted to evaluate the effect of probiotic strains of this genus (mainly E. faecium)….Some strains are resistant to many antibiotics and possess virulence factors such as adhesins and haemolysin, often located on pathogenicity islands or plasmids.” [2013]

“Pulse-field gel electrophoresis showed that the sixteen isolates (from commercial Korean Probiotics) tested in this study are originated from three strains.” [2008]

Single Family (Only Enterococcus)

Bioflorin – Enterococcus faecium SF 68

Reviewed in early post.

• “Enterococcus faecium SF 68 (sensitive to penicillin, tetracycline, virginiamicin and tylosin, but resistant to streptomycin)” [1994]
• “An antagonistic activity of Enterococcus faecium SF 68 towards Plesiomonas shigelloides, Aeromonas sp., enteropathogenic Escherichia coli and Yersinia enterocolitica has been studied and demonstrated.’ [1990]
• “Fingerprints identical to the ingested probiotic strains were recovered from fecal samples of 4/7 volunteers after one week of Mutaflor, from 4/6 after taking Bioflorin” [2007]

Symbioflor-1

From the makers of Symbioflor-2, contains a strain of Enterococcus faecalis. [Package Insert]. It is unlikely to take up residence, so should be viewed as a catalyst-probiotic (one that may help others during the short time that it is there).

• Significant decrease of titres of circulating IgG after oral intake of a preparation of Enterococcus faecalis in a group of ten healthy volunteers [1993].
• ” The objective of the present study was to employ such in vitro methodology to characterise different strains of Enterococcus faecalis. The characteristics of a commercial product marketed as a probiotic, Symbioflor-1 (Symbiopharm), were compared with the characteristics of both pathogenic and commensal strains. Tolerance towards low pH and viability after exposure to human gastric and duodenal juices were assayed. Symbioflor-1 was the most susceptible strain to these treatments when compared with the other E. faecalis strains.” [2012]
• [The effect of a bacterial immunostimulant (human Enterococcus faecalis bacteria) on the occurrence of relapse in patients with chronic recurrent bronchitis][2001]. It does help that condition.

Multistrains

Multi-Strain-PROBIOTIC-InnovixLabs-Broad-Spectrum

Contains Enterococcus faecium SD-5843 – no studies

130 Tablets New Biofermin S Tablet By Biofermin

Japanese Product.

Three-Lac

Enterococcus faecalis

Integrative Therapeutics – Enterogenic Concentrate

Enterococcus faecium

Also in Cat and Dog Probiotics

I will not touch the question of using Vet probiotics by humans.

Bottom Line

• Bioflorin is the first choice because it has a good chance of persisting (likely depends on what it has to deal with… a boxing match).
• Symbioflor-1 is the second choice — simple because it has been studied and results published
• For all of the rest, there is no clear winner, but I am bias for Bioferimin (from my experience with other Japanese produced probiotics). According to their site, 1/3 of the probiotic is enterococcus[source]. It is also the easiest to obtain in the US because it is sold on Amazon (and appear to ship from Japan). It also appear to be multiple tablets for a “adult dosage”, so it is possible to slowly introduce it easily
• Taking with herbs or even selected antibiotics appear to increase it success (i.e. knock out the opposition, and it will move in)