by Merry Youle — En­te­ro­cocci had been gen­er­ally re­garded as be­nign com­men­sals, a part of our healthy in­testi­nal mi­cro­biota. They were even in­vited in, be­ing used as pro­bi­otics. But then, in the late 1970s, the first mul­ti­ple drug-re­sis­tant strains ap­peared, and van­comycin-re­sis­tant strains fol­lowed in 1981. In re­cent decades, they have taken cen­ter stage…