The activity of daptomycin was assessed against 545 isolates of Gram-positive bacteria including enterococci, coagulase-positive and -negative staphylococci, beta-haemolytic streptococci, viridans streptococci and coryneforms. The panel of isolates was biased towards those with resistance to first-line antimicrobial agents and included linezolid-resistant enterococci and Staphylococcus aureus. MICs of daptomycin were less than or equal to 1 mg/l for all the staphylococci, streptococci, and coryneforms, except for two isolates of Corynebacterium aquaticum, for which MICs were 8 mg/l. Daptomycin MICs were less than or equal to2 and less than or equal to4 mg/l for Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium, respectively. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. and the International Society of Chemotherapy. All rights reserved.